Gear Point
by Twilails
Summary: In a strange twist of fate, Tails finds himself in a new world that's dependent on steam-based technology. However, when a new villain threatening both worlds arises, Tails must use his mechanical skills and a mysterious new power to save the two worlds.
1. Welcome to Gear Point

I've really been into the steam punk thing lately, and I realized Tails would be perfect for this sort of thing, so I came up with this story! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic

Chapter One: Welcome to Gear Point

"I wonder what happened here?" Tails asked himself as he surveyed the wreckage he'd discovered somewhere deep in the forest. Scraps of metal, bolts, rivets, broken gears, and valves seemed to be everywhere. He'd never actually seen technology anything like this…It seemed sort of primitive to him, but at the same time, there was something rather unique about it…He tried to decide what it was as he picked up a gear that had remained intact to examine it.

"Huh?" he looked up as something shined in the light, catching his attention. He went over and moved over a couple of sheets of metal to find some sort of necklace. It had a fine silver chain, and it had a crystal charm, shaped like a gear similar to the gears from the wreckage of whatever the machine had originally been. "Wow," he said softly to himself, slipping it over his head and around his neck. He looked down, deciding he liked the way it looked upon his chest.

"Eh heh, I'm not usually much for jewelry, but I kinda like it!" he said to himself, smiling. "Besides, a gear is a pretty good charm for an inventor! I wonder what something like this would be doing in a wreck like this, though? It seems to be the only thing here that wasn't damaged in some way, too…" the young fox shrugged, deciding to head back to his workshop. He could probably find out more about it later, but for now he was satisfied with finding that trinket in the remains.

Later, Sonic caught up with him in Station Square. "Hey Tails!" he greeted him cheerfully before he saw Tails' find. "Hey, where'd you get the snazzy necklace?"

"Oh…I found it earlier today in some kind of machine wreckage," Tails replied, a little embarrassed he'd forgotten to take it off before meeting him.

"Who would've had something like that during a wreck?" Sonic asked, confused.

"That's what I was wondering…" Tails replied before there was a loud explosion from somewhere ahead of them.

"We'll worry about it later, little bud, but now looks like somethin's up over there!" Sonic replied, running off, with Tails closely following behind him with the aid of his tails. He stopped short, however, when he saw what it was. It appeared to be some huge metallic machine, and with a jolt Tails realized that this machine had the same technological design as the wrecked one he'd found that day. Steam rose from various parts of the machine's build, as it seemed to be powered by steam. It seemed to be some sort of large mech as it appeared to have what seemed like arms and legs. As Tails stood there staring, it suddenly took him by surprise as one of its metallic fists slammed into him, sending him through the wall of a nearby building.

"TAILS!" Sonic cried as he saw what happened. "You bastard, I'll…" Sonic was cut off as he was sent flying with a simple flick of the robot's fingers. Tails shakily got up again, bleeding from where he was cut by the sheer amount of metal and glass the wall he'd gone through contained. The robot grabbed him again, slamming him against another wall so he was level with its head. The head slid open, revealing a wild-eyed wolf glaring at him with rage. "Where'd you get that necklace?!" he demanded as the robot tightened its grip on him. "WHERE'D YOU GET IT?!" Tails was petrified with terror, unable to find his voice to answer him. He'd never been so scared, he was about to be killed for no obvious reason. He was beginning to regret ever taking the necklace in the first place. Tails was losing consciousness, sure this half-deranged wolf was about to finish him off. Suddenly, the gear charm started glowing as he passed out, and with a sudden flash, Tails was gone.

"I-It activated? How the hell could it have activated for a k-…" he was cut off as Sonic suddenly ran back, curling into a ball and shooting right through his machine. The gears in the robot ground against each other as the steam's pressure increased, until it exploded, taking its creator with it. Sonic looked around, wondering what had happened to Tails…Little did he know he had actually been transported to another dimension…

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Tails woke up a few hours later, finding himself in a bed. His wounds had been dressed with multiple bandages, including many bandages around his torso. He tried sitting up, but a wave of pain shot through his sides, forcing him to lay back down.

"Easy there, young one, you've broken a few ribs from whatever happened to you!" the voice belonged to a middle-aged raccoon sitting at a nearby table in the room. He stood up, striding over to him. "I must say, you gave me quite a scare there…Just appeared right out of nowhere, all cut up and bleeding, with broken ribs to boot! Though what REALLY surprised me were your tails…There was enough blood, I thought your tail somehow got split down the middle at first!"

Tails shyed back a little from him. "W-Who are you? W-Where am I?" he asked, his voice cracking a little.

"Hmm? Ah, how rude of me…My name is Shayne Adams, owner of one of the finest repair shops in Gear Point," the raccoon introduced himself.

"Gear Point?" Tails asked curiously.

"You mean you haven't heard of it?" Shayne asked, surprised. "How could you not have heard of…" he then realized something with a jolt as he suddenly remembered the necklace Tails had been wearing. _It COULDN'T be…But he has no idea…This just can't be a coincedence, it has to be it…But how did he…? _he shook his head. "Never mind, if you don't know, I guess you don't know…Well, anyway, you need to rest, it'll probably be at least a couple weeks before your ribs heal enough for you to become active again," Tails nodded in agreement, resting his head against the pillow once more. Shayne went to leave, but as he opened the door, he looked back again, realizing something. "By the way, I don't think I asked your name…"

"Tails," Tails replied, still pretty tired from the beating he'd taken earlier. He closed his eyes and soon drifted back to sleep again.

Several weeks later, Tails was finally healed enough to get out of bed. His ribs were still fractured, but they were well on their way to healing. When Shayne found how much his condition had improved, he took him outside, showing him exactly what kind of place Gear Point actually was.

"Wow!" he exclaimed as he stepped outside. Gear Point was a town set in a mountainous region, and as he looked around, he found a mechanical wonder residing within the town. Steam-powered machines like the ones the wolf from before were abundant in the area. The buildings themselves looked partially mechanical, fabricated from metal, bolts, gears, and other such components. It was like nothing the young fox had ever seen.

"Wow, I never dreamed things like this could be used with this kind of technology!" Tails said as he walked with Shayne.

"Yep, best technology around here!" Shayne remarked. "You seem to be interested in machines!"

"Yeah, I used to build pretty advanced machines back where I came from!" Tails put in cheerfully.

"Hmm…Well, how about I teach you about some of the machinery here since you're staying at my shop with me? I'm something of an expert with them myself!" Tails cheerfully agreed to this proposal. He didn't know where he was or how he got there, but he was starting to think that maybe being here wouldn't be too bad after all.


	2. The Salvage Crew

Chapter two time! Okay, I just wanted to put a side note here, just so you know, I usually assume that Mobians are actually human-proportioned when I write because I never actually liked the idea that Mobians were always only half the size of humans, just so it doesn't get confusing. Anyway, on with the show!

Chapter Two: Salvage Squad

((Six Years Later…))

Tails yawned, stretching as he got out of bed. He was now about fourteen, and he was taller with slightly longer fur and tails. He strode over to the window, pushing the curtains open and opening the window to let the cool morning breeze blow in through the room. He looked out over the horizon, watching the sun rise. It turned the sky a light shade of pink as it peeked over the horizon with the promise it would eventually illuminate the still-dark town of Gear Point.

"Another beautiful day!" Tails sighed contentedly before he went to get dressed. He got dressed in his usual outfit, a pair of black jeans, a white t-shirt under a black jacket, fingerless gloves, and a pair of goggles he wore on his forehead. The back of his jacket said "Gear Point" emblazoned in white letters, a white picture of a gear underneath it. Finally, he slipped on his necklace with his crystal gear charm before he headed down to eat breakfast.

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"Up bright and early as usual, I see!" Shayne yawned, smiling as he saw Tails already eating some cereal when he came down. "I don't know how you do it, up until midnight working sometimes, and yet you can still get up at the crack of dawn!"

"I used to have work patterns like that all the time at home, you get used to it after awhile!" Tails replied, grinning at him. "So, anything to work on today?"

"Not at the moment, seems you've finished fixing that steam engine we were working on yesterday after I retired," Shayne replied. "I must be getting old, I don't remember the last time you were so ahead of me fixing something! But anyway, today I have a few errands for you to run since you've already fixed everything here!" he told him as he took out a list and gave it to him. Tails looked it over as he finished his cereal. It wasn't anything too long, he just had to pick up some things as well as go finish up some repairs on a stationary piece of machinery that couldn't be moved.

"All right, I'll get right on it!" Tails replied, taking the list and setting out.

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As the sun came up and started to warm everything, Tails noticed something as he went about his errands. He noticed a few shadowy figures go by a window in an abandoned storage warehouse in a more abandoned part of Gear Point. He'd been on his way to the scrap yard to see if he could salvage a few parts he still needed to fix the machine he was to fix when he'd noticed them. He was a little curious as to what anyone was doing in this abandoned part of the city, he slowly made his way to the entrance of the warehouse.

"Damn it, I thought you said there were a bunch of boosters around here!"

"Well…I THOUGHT they were boosters, they might've been…"

"When will you find us a GOOD salvage location, you little shit?! You say you know about boosters, but you've yet to actually FIND us one!" Tails carefully moved towards the voice, peering around a large crate to see what was going on, stopping short at the sight before him. There were many different Mobians standing in a circle in the center of which stood a tall jackal who appeared to be their leader. Before him was a cat who looked about a year younger than Tails. He was very short, standing at only about "3'10 tall. He wore a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a pair of round gold-rimmed glasses. He appeared to only have one arm, the jackal holding a mechanical arm out of his reach, which Tails could only assume belonged to the cat. As he looked closer, however, he suddenly realized that the mechanical arm wasn't steam-based at all; in fact, it looked more like technology from his OWN world!

"It's not like I'm not trying! Do you know what the odds are of finding one of those in a place like…" the cat was interruped as Tails accidentally kicked a wrench lying on the ground nearby as he moved closer, and they all turned to him as a loud clang resounded through the room.

"What in the…" the jackal froze as he turned and saw Tails, staring at him. After a moment, Tails realized that he was actually staring at his chest, at the crystal charm that hung from his necklace. _Uh oh…_he thought, suddenly remembering the incident that had occurred six years earlier, before he'd suddenly found himself in Gear Point. He picked up the wrench and took off, and no one noticed the cat escaping as all heads turned towards him.

"AFTER HIM!!!" the jackal cried, and the group took off after him. Up ahead, Tails found a steam valve on a pipe on a wall, and a quick glance at the gauge next to it told him steam still flowed through the pipe. It was the perfect means to gain the upper hand in this situation, so he headed for it. The wheel to open the valve was missing, so he attached the wrench to it to force it open.

"A little late for a repair job, ain't it, kid?" one of the members of the salvage squad asked him as he reached it.

"Well, I'm sure it'd fix you!" Tails replied as he wrenched the valve open, blasting them back with a powerful burst of steam before running off with the wrench. Without the wrench, they'd be unable to turn off the steam, and that suited him just fine. Under the cover of the steam, he was able to fly up above it and land on a large crate. Several members of the salvage crew saw him and went after him, but he was ready; Tails had built some muscle up over the years from carrying heavy machine parts, so he could hold his own in a fight. As one of them climbed up, Tails was able to knock him down with a sweeping kick, then he kicked him to send him rolling off into several more who were climbing up, knocking them down again.

"Is that all you guys got?" Tails asked, now starting to enjoy himself. Being a fox, he had a higher visibility in conditions like fog, so he could see the positions of his enemies fairly easily. He moved in, using the steam to conceal himself as he went and knocked out people from the salvage squad with his wrench. This caused some confusion as people kept tripping over their fallen comrades, and Tails managed to throw some people into each other, adding to the confusion. Soon enough, however, the steam started to diminish as the pipe ran out, and Tails saw there were still plenty more from the salvage squad to oppose him.

"Yer gonna get it NOW, runt!" a rather large bear growled at him as he approached with the rest of the remaining crew members. Tails started backing away, when he saw a tall pile of barrels that reached near the ceiling in the center of the warehouse. He smiled to himself, running towards it with the salvage crew hot on his heels. He jumped flying up above the pile and landing on the top crate of a stack next to the pile, and grinned down at the crew members making their way up.

"You know what they say about what goes up, don't you?" he asked, placing a foot on the topmost barrel and pushing it off. As it went down, it hit other barrels, and caused a chain reaction, raining down the barrels upon his pursuers like a wooden avalanche. The crew, full of cuts, splinters, and with some of them caught in the metal rings that held the barrels together, emerged from the pile, scrambling over each other in their haste to get out of there; this kid was dangerous! The jackal glared up at him, knowing he'd been beaten for now.

"You win this round kid, but next time you won't be so lucky!" the jackal growled, retreating with his crew.

"Well, I'm glad at least THAT'S over!" Tails said as he floated down to the ground. He noticed something lying on the ground, and upon investigating discovered it was the cat's mechanical arm; the jackal must've dropped it in the confusion. He picked it up, looking around; the cat was probably long-gone by now. He shrugged, deciding to keep it in case he ever met the cat again so he'd be able to return it to him. He wondered about the cat; the advanced technology of this arm suggested that he was from Tails' world as well. Also, the jackal had mentioned "boosters", which the cat had seemed to know about. He pondered these mysteries as he carried the arm out and continued on his errands.


	3. The Girl Next Door

Hey, I bet you're all wondering who the lucky lady that makes this story apply to a romance genre, aren't ya? Well, wait no further, for in this chapter, she makes her appearance!

Chapter Three: The Girl Next Door

"Hmm…That is a perplexing mystery indeed!" Shayne replied as he listened to the end of Tails' story. It was the next morning, and Tails had just explained to him why he was as late as he was getting his errands done. "I think I might have heard something about these 'boosters' you said they mentioned, though I'm not quite sure…I might have to do some reading to be sure of myself…"

"Well, we should find out more about them pretty soon," Tails decided. "I think they might be pretty important with how intent those guys seemed to be on finding some…" he was interrupted as the loud roar of a machine from outside resounded, accompanied by several heavy thumps. Tails could feel the vibrations along the ground from whatever was thumping along like that. "What the…?"

"Shall we go take a look?" Shayne suggested, leading the way outside. Tails looked up in amazement at the sight before him; a large mechanic shop, not unlike their own, was walking along the ground on giant metal legs! The shop seemed to be in slightly poor repair, Tails could see the spinning gears through holes in some of the legs. He stood watching as the shop set itself down, settling on the ground with a hiss. The legs retracted themselves, and it seemed they had a new mechanic for a neighbor.

"Hmm? I thought you knew about the houses?" Shayne asked Tails, noticing his awed expression. Tails slowly shook his head, not having seen anything like that. "ALL the houses can do that?" he asked.

"Yep…Pretty amazing, huh?" Shayne said in response. "Well, let's not stand around gaping all day, let's go and greet our new neighbors, shall we?" he asked, starting to walk towards the shop to greet its residents. As he approached, a light blue middle-aged fox emerged from the shop, accompanied by a billow of steam from inside. He had shoulder-length white hair tied back in a pony tail, and he wore a pair of black jeans and a tank-top with a round pair of glasses. He appeared to be in remarkable shape for his age, though his age was still shown by the laugh lines in his face. "Whoa…I tell ya, we GOTTA get that broken pipe fixed sometime!" he said, shaking his damp hair out of his eyes.

"Hello there!" Shayne greeted him as he and Tails came over. "We seem to be neighbors since you moved your shop here! My name's Shayne, and this is my young assistant Tails!" he introduced them.

"Well, it's nice to meet you both, my name's Vince!" the fox replied, smiling brightly at them. "I must say, Tails, I don't think I've met anyone quite as…Unique as you!" he said carefully, noticing his extra tail. "I think my daughter's around your age, she should be in the shop somewhere," Vince told them as he went back to the door. "Hey Stacey, are you coming down sometime today?"

"Just a moment, Dad…I've almost got…GAAAH!!!" there was the sound of a pipe breaking and the hiss of steam as more of it billowed out of a window. "…All right, I think I'm done now!" Stacey called back. A moment later, she came out, fixing her hair. She was indeed around Tails' age, with sky-blue fur. Her hair was bubble-gum pink, and she had orange eyes. Her outfit consisted of a long pair of boots with a pair of black and blue striped stockings, a navy blue t-shirt, a yellow skirt, and a pair of tan fingerless gloves. "Hey, the name's Stacey, what's up?" she asked.

"Uh…Hi, I'm Tails!" Tails replied, realizing he was staring at her before he quickly snapped out of it. He was taken aback by her appearance; he thought she was beautiful, her fur reminded him of a clear sky on the type of day perfect for flying. She was also in great shape like her father; Tails thought she must have worked out. She also seemed to be a pretty good steam mechanic herself, since she had seemed to be trying to fix something in her father's shop before she came out.

"It's nice to meet you, Stacey!" Shayne told her, smiling as he could see Tails was attracted to her. "Say, Tails, why don't you show Stacey around our own shop and I can see if there's anything I can do to help Vince with their shop?" he suggested.

"Uh…Yeah, good idea!" Tails replied awkwardly, leading the way inside. He looked back at Stacey, and didn't watch where he was going; as a result, he smacked into a shelf, rattling it as several objects started falling off some of the higher shelves. Stacey smirked at him, then suddenly screamed as the mechanical arm Tails had taken from the warehouse suddenly fell in front of her, and she backed away against a table as quickly as she could. "What IS that?!" she asked, not having seen any technology like that before.

"Oh, this?" Tails asked, picking the arm up. "Well, I suppose you could say it was a sort of one-armed robbery!" he quipped, and Stacey groaned. "You've got to be kidding me…"

"Yeah, that WAS pretty bad…" Tails said sheepishly, a little embarrassed. "Well, bad pun aside, I think it belonged to a cat I saw being hassled by a salvage crew…As to the kind of technology that was used for it, that's kind of a long story…The whole thing was kind of dis-arming," Tails replied, adding another pun.

"Okay, could you PLEASE stop with the puns?" Stacey asked, exasperated.

"Sorry, I guess I'm going out on a limb with this one…" Tails replied.

"Okay, now you're just doing it to be annoying!" Stacey accused him, smiling.

"Well…Okay, yeah, you're right, I'll stop," Tails decided. He was cursing himself in his head; this had been a perfect chance to make a first impression, and so far he seemed like a klutz with a fondness for cheesy jokes..."Well, why don't I show you the rest of the shop," he suggested, quickly changing the subject and leading her further into the shop.

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Tails and Stacey hung out a lot over the next few weeks, and soon got to know each other better. Shayne and Vince could both easily see Tails was in love with her, and they had a bet going on between them as to how long it would take him to admit it to her. As time went on, however, Tails started to see she didn't feel the same way about him; it was clear that she only liked him as a friend. Because of this, Tails couldn't bear to mention his own feelings for her, afraid of being shot down. It tormented him, spending so much time hanging out with her, but not being able to let her know how he really felt.

"I just can't stand it!" Tails finally said one day as he and Shayne were working on repairing a broken steam engine.

"Why don't you sit down, then?" Shayne quipped as he kept his eyes on his work.

"I'm serious! I mean, she doesn't even notice me, and I…" Tails started pacing around a bit as he went on about it.

"Tails, slow down for a second," Shayne said, catching Tails' shoulders to stop him. "So, you are in love with her?"

"Yes…"

"And you'd do anything for her to love you back?"

"Yes…"

"So, why aren't you doing anything about that?"

"What?" Tails asked, a little confused.

"Love is not like in the movies, Tails, there's no such thing as the girl immediately liking the guy when he falls in love with her…Most of the time, you have to win her heart, you have to show her just HOW much you care for her…If she still has no interest in you afterward, then perhaps she just isn't meant for you, but that doesn't mean there still aren't other girls out there, and you'd still have her as a friend…But you'll never know if you just keep wishing for her to like you at an emotional distance!" Shayne told him. Tails thought about this for a moment. "You know, you're right!" he told him. "I'm never going to get her to like me if I don't DO anything…Say, isn't that Centennial Fair next week at the base of the mountain?" Tails asked.

"Hmm…Yes, I believe it is!" Shayne replied, smiling. "So you're going to take Stacey?"

"Yeah, it'd be perfect!" Tails replied, smiling. "In fact, I'll go ask her if her and her dad would like to join us right now!"

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The day of the fair soon came, and the four of them made their way down to the base of the mountain where the festivities were being held. It was much like a county fair, with exhibits and contests, and, of course, steam-powered rides ranging from calm to intense, thrilling rides. Shayne payed their admission and him and Vince left Tails and Stacey to go on the rides while they went to look at some of the exhibits. Tails and Stacey were having a great time, especially since neither of them were afraid of the more intense rides.

Finally, as it began to get dark, Tails decided that a change of pace was in order, and he headed for the ferris wheel with Stacey. It would be somewhat private and peaceful high up in the air in the enclosed compartments, large metal boxes with large plexiglass windows for observation on both sides. It was up there that Tails would make his move, it would be perfect. It was also fairly close to the fireworks show, and they'd have a perfect view from up there. They both got on, sitting across from each other, and they slowly descended as the ride started. Soon after they reached the top, the show started, and they both watched in awe as the fireworks exploded in brilliant colors, lighting up the sky.

"Uh, Stacey?" Tails finally asked, deciding to seize the moment.

"Yes Tails?" Stacey asked, turning to him.

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you…" suddenly, something impacted against the side of the ferris wheel, and there was a terrible groan as the whole thing shuddered, threatening to collapse.

"What happened?" Stacey asked, looking around wildly as this happened.

"I don't know…Stay calm, they might still be able to get us off safely," Tails reassured her. The wheel shuddered as it slowly turned so that they could get people off the ride. It seemed to be going pretty well; then, when their compartment was nearing the bottom, the bolts holding the wheel on the axle suddenly popped out from the strain, and the wheel slowly rolled. Tails managed to get the door open as the compartment reached the ground, but before he could help Stacey out, the roof suddenly started to buckle from the weight as the wheel rolled on top of it. Tails got out before it caved in, trapping Stacy under the roof on the other side as she was pinned under the dangerous metal roof. Tails knew he had to work fast; in another few moments, the compartment would roll completely under the wheel, and Stacy would be crushed.

Tails looked around for the nearest object before he ran and grabbed the heavy mallet from a strength test game on the midway and ran back to the compartment as fast as he could. He had to be careful, though, the sudden rush of air in the compartment could cause the compartment to collapse from pressure. He smashed the mallet into the window, gradually cracking the strong safety glass, as Stacey anxiously watched, petrified with fear. He eventually shattered some of it, making a hole just big enough for Stacey to fit through. He reached in, seizing her hand and carefully starting to pull her out, not wanting to hurt her by pulling her out too fast since she was pinned down by the roof. It was slow work, but he managed to free her. She screamed as the compartment finally reached the bottom of the wheel and the roof continued to collapse, but Tails quickly yanked her out right before the compartment was crushed under the weight of the wheel. She clung to him, still trembling and sobbing with the fear from the terrifying incident, as he embraced her, speaking soothing words in an effort to calm down her hysterics.

"What happened?!" Vince and Shayne ran over, having just heard several minutes ago and rushed over there from where they'd been. "Are you two all right?"

"We're fine, just a little shaken," Tails assured them, still holding Stacey closely as she trembled in his arms.

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Tails and Stacey had become closer after the incident, and Stacey had grown attracted to him as well. They were on the roof of Shayne's shop this night, looking up at the stars.

"Stacey, I'd like to show you something," he told her, pulling the crystal gear charm on his necklace out from his shirt and showing it to her.

"Wow, Tails, it's beautiful!" Stacey replied, marvelling at the intricately-carved trinket.

"I found this a long time ago, and I've had it ever since…It's kind of special to me, and I think I'd like you to have it!" he told her, slipping it off and putting it around her neck.

"Oh Tails, thank you!" she said, hugging him, and he returned her embrace. He smiled, he would always remember this special moment, and he was sure she would too.


	4. The Cat Comes Back

All right, the nature of Tails' charm is revealed in this chapter, and things heat up when a new enemy arrives on the scene along with a new ally!

Chapter Four: The Cat Comes Back

A few days after the incident, Tails was checking the shelves in the workshop for a specific tool when he suddenly realized something was missing. It seemed that the mechanical arm that he'd found in the warehouse was missing, gone without a trace. He wondered if the cat it had belonged to might have had something to do with it…He shrugged, deciding that he'd worry about it later. Right now he had to focus on his work today, there were plenty of repair jobs to be completed and Shayne would need his help to get them all finished on time.

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"Hmm…This one was probably was part of some sort of lifting mechanism in construction work…" Tails said thoughtfully, running a hand over the large teeth of the gear he held in his hand.

"Let me see," Stacey took it from him, looking it over before consulting a book she was holding. "I don't know how you do it, Tails, that's five in a row!" she said, grinning. The two of them were in a field at the base of the mountain, a semi-desertous region littered with old gears and pieces of scrap metal. They were playing a game popular among Gear Point mechanics; they would look for old gears. For each gear one of them found, they had to try and determine what it was most likely used for judging by its characteristics. Tails seemed to be the best at this game, as he usually managed to correctly identify most of the gears he found. Stacey was pretty good as well, but she usually had a hard time keeping up with him.

"Hey, I've just got a natural talent for this sort of thing!" Tails bragged, grinning at her.

"Yeah, and a natural ego to match!" Stacey replied, and they both laughed.

"I don't think you'll be laughing for much longer…" another voice suddenly cut in.

"Hmm?" Tails looked at where the voice came from seeing a tall figure approach. He recognized him as the jackal that he'd run into before in the warehouse, who'd been holding the cat's arm. "Oh, it's just you…Come back for more?" Tails asked confidently, getting into a fighting stance.

"Yes…But don't think this will be like before…Before, you caught me and my men off-guard, and there wasn't any immediate material that I could use…" the jackal replied, pulling out a sword with a long sand-colored blade. "But now you'll both see my true power!"

"Yeah, yeah, and then you'll destroy us, find whatever you're looking for, and take over the world…I've heard it all before!" Tails replied, not really that interested in what this arrogant hound had to say.

"You'll be singing a different tune once I kill you both!" he replied, rushing forward. Tails easily ducked under his blade, slipping through his defense to deliver a powerful side kick that knocked him down. The jackal rolled back on his feet, and tried another attack, but again, Tails was able to get through his defense without too much difficulty.

"Ha, you ARE good, kid!" the jackal laughed, stepping back. "Now I see why my men were having trouble just trying to fight you off in the steam…"

"So, does that mean you're giving up?" Tails asked, crossing his arms. The jackal merely laughed again. "So naïve…You ignorant fools up here truly have forgotten about this world's true power," he replied, as a glowing aura started to surround him. Tails reflexively took a step back as the sand from the more desertous part of the areas started to shift, forming around the jackal. Suddenly, he lashed out, sending a thick tentacle-like tendril of sand at Tails, slamming into him and sending him sprawling on the ground next to Stacey.

"Tails! Are you all right?!" she asked, concerned.

"I'd be more concerned about your current situation!" the jackal replied, more sand starting to rise up around him. "You don't have a chance against me if you haven't even realized your own power!" he growled.

"W-Who are you?!" Tails asked, now starting to get a little scared.

"I'm one of five, five individuals set out to bring retribution to this place…I am Anubis, and like the original lord of the dead, I too specialize in mummificaton; with this sand, I can absorb every drop of water contained in your bodies, leaving your mummified remains to decay in the sun's rays!" as he said this, two things ran through Tails' mind; first, that what he just described actually sounded kind of gross…The other thought was that he should probably get out of there with Stacey while she still had the chance! "C'mon!" he shouted, grabbing her wrist and starting to run the other way.

"Oh no you don't!" a curtain of sand cut them off as it flew in front of them. Tails ducked under the sand, but Anubis lashed out, and they could hardly keep dodging as they pursued them. They both tried valiently to get away, but the sand Anubis wielded with his power slammed into them, knocking them unconscious.

"Now, we can finally begin!" Anubis said to himself, approaching them as he raised his sword to finish them off before mummifying them. Suddenly, a streak of color shot by him, and the unconscious forms of Tails and Stacey were gone. "What the…?" Anubis looked around wildly before he found the perpetrator. "You again?!"

The culprit was none other than the cat whose arm he'd stolen before, his mechanical arm now back in place as he was carrying Tails and Stacey's unconscious form with it. He dropped them aside where they would be out of the way. "I've come to pay you back for my arm!" he acknowledged, grinning as he took a fighting stance.

"You're pathetic…Do you really think that you can beat me without a boos…" he was cut off as the cat's metallic fist suddenly started to glow before he punched towards Anubis, the blow hitting him as if his fist had actually made contact.

"Did I forget to mention? I keep my own booster inside my fist…And unlike your power, it isn't fake, I can take power directly from it!" the cat replied. "My Strike Booster allows me to attack from a distance so I can keep well away from your little sand trick!"

"That doesn't mean you'll be able to beat me!" Anubis snarled, sending his sand after him as the cat sped off with immense speed. Anubis sent the sand after him, trying to cut him off and catch him in it, but the cat was too fast. The cat then found an opening, nailing Anubis with his Strike Booster punch, sending him staggering back. He then ran up, jumping up and doing a handstand on his shoulders. This threw off Anubis' balance and caused him to start falling backwards. The cat's feet hit the ground, and he used this momentum against him to flip Anubis over his head with his mechanical arm, slamming him face-down into the ground.

"Y-You…!" Anubis was furious that someone had slipped through his defense so easily. "That does it! I'll destroy you all with one blow!" his sand attacked the surrounding area, slamming into it and pulverizing some of the solid land around them to make more sand before the new sand started to gather around him. "Desert Wave!" the cat watched as this enormous mass of sand loomed over him, bearing down like a desertous tidal wave as Anubis sent it towards him. "…I think it's time for me to leave!" he said to himself before running to grab Tails and Stacey. The wave chased after him, Anubis shouting at him as he did.

"You'll never escape, you coward! My sand will crush your bodies into dust becoming part of this barren wasteland for all…Eh?!" he suddenly realized that the cat had been leading the wave in such a way that both of them were now heading towards him. He tried to stop them, but it was too late as the cat managed to jump over him and start heading back up the mountain as Anubis was buried under the wave of his own sand.

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"That…Was too close for comfort!" the cat panted, resting against a building as he set down Tails and Stacey. Tails and Stacey soon started to stir as he leaned against the wall, out of breath.

"Hunh? What happened?" Tails asked as Stacey groaned, starting to stir as well. Tails caught sight of the cat. "Hey, I remember you! That Anubis guy stole your arm a while ago, didn't he?" he asked. The cat nodded. "Indeed…I'd like to thank you for looking after it until I could obtain it again, by the way," he told him. "My name is Max!"

"The name's Miles, but people call me Tails!" Tails replied, smiling. Stacey sat up, rubbing her head as they introduced themselves. "Are you all right, Stace?" Tails asked her.

"I'm fine…" Stacey replied. "I think I'll be pretty sore for a couple days after that, though!" she commented.

"That reminds me, how exactly WAS Anubis controlling the sand like that?" Tails asked curiously.

"Allow me to explain…" Max offered, sitting on the ground with him so he could give his explanation. "I've done some research, and from some ruins I discovered here, I found that this world wasn't always like this…Many years ago, this land was actually a magical land, a perpetual series of mage nations that made peace with the land and nature. It was peaceful, everyone had their own kind of magic to help perform tasks and generally make life more pleasurable and manageable for themselves and those around them.

"However, it didn't last...Despite how perfect a society seems, it seems that a true utopia is unachievable; for there were also dark mages, mages using the dark, forbidden practices. These dark forces ravaged the land, spreading terror and misery everywhere they went. The land rejected them, and soon the natural mana, the essence from the land that made magic possible was gone, unable to be used for the evil means of the dark mages.

"Without mana, no one could use their own magic anymore. Desperate to retain their magic-based society, they crafted charms, channeling their remaining mana into it to be able to preserve it and continue using it. However, without the natural mana, no new magic could be created, and thus magic started to gradually die out with each generation. Every new person born was unable to have a magic of their own, and were too inexperienced in the ways of magic to use the magic of their predecessors…Instead, they turned to technology, using the natural resource of steam as the foundation for a new society. However, the charms remain, scattered across this world.

"These charms have been called 'Boosters'; magical devices that grant great power to those who know how to use them. I have one of my own, in fact," Max said as he unscrewed his fist, showing them a bronze star charm that was concealed in his fist. "Anubis came after me because he discovered the extent of my knowledge of the boosters…He's from a society of extremists who want to put an end to technology, a society striving to restore the ravaged land to its once former glory. Most of them have boosters of their own, which they use for destructive purposes, using it to destroy the works of mortals without remorse who gets in their way.

"However, I believe there is one way to stop them…I discovered a legend in my travels about a powerful booster wielded by a mighty warrior. This warrior supposedly discovered the last remaining reserves of mana as the new society was emerging…Because of this, he was able to create a powerful magic that combined the elemental forces that was the basis of magic with the emerging steam technology around him. It was known as the legendary Gear Booster, a dynamic force that allowed him to use these forces of nature to obtain immense power!"

"Wow…That's incredible!" Stacey breathed.

"Yeah…But does such a booster even exist?" Tails asked curiously.

"I admit I had my doubts about it for a while…But now I know the truth, it always has existed, and it could be the only thing that could stop them," Max replied. "I wasn't sure it existed, but now I know for sure because…" he pointed to Stacey. "You're wearing it around your neck right now!"

There you have it, the true nature of Tails' charm! It seems that now Tails might have the means to stop this evil organization! By the way, I'm sorry it took this long to update, I've been really stressed out with finals and graduating and everything. I'll try and get the next chapter out sooner…But for now, I leave you with this shocking revelation!


	5. Blazing Spirit

Tails gets a taste of his own power as he uses the power of the Gear Booster for the first time in this chapter! Enjoy!

Chapter Five: Blazing Spirit

"So you know everything now…I guess it was only a matter of time before you discovered its true nature!" Shayne commented, rejoining Tails at the table with a fresh cup of coffee. Tails nodded. "Yeah, it seems kind of strange…All this time, I've had this type of power, and I never even realized it!" he agreed.

"Indeed," Shayne replied, nodding. "When I saw that charm on your necklace six years ago, I recognized it almost instantly from my studies of the lore of this world, though I never believed it could be real…I kept it from you because the legend has it that the warrior who originally created it endowed it with a spell that allowed the charm to choose who was truly fit to wield it when the time came…I just didn't want you to think…

"I understand," Tails replied. "I doubt I would've gotten a big head about it, though…If I really AM the one the charm chose, I probably would've been paranoid if anything if you'd told me!" he commented. "Even if I can use it, it's not like I'm the only one able

"You are indeed wise, Tails, you don't take any future events for granted since you're no one can know for sure how an event plays out before it occurs!" Shayne replied, nodding. "You may yet be the one to save us all from them…Are you really sure Stacey should keep the necklace knowing your potential power, though?" he asked.

"Yeah, I gave it to her, and if I can use the power, then I can still draw upon the Gear Booster's power as long as she's with me with the charm," Tails replied, remembering what Max had told him. "Besides, it's pretty romantic, don't you think? Almost like a promise we'll always be together…" he concluded, and Shayne chuckled and nodded. "That it is, Tails, that it is!" he agreed.

"Speaking of which, we have a date tonight up at the summit," Tails mentioned. "It's a fairly long way up there, so I should get ready to go up with her pretty soon if we're going to make it there by sunset, and we'll camp up there for the night!" Shayne nodded. "All right then, though you two shouldn't stay up for too long tonight!"

"Don't worry, we won't be up too late!" Tails assured him before going to meet Stacey.

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Stacey and Tails were sitting at the peak of the mountain, roasting marshmallows on a fire they built between them. The sun was sinking over the horizon, staining the sky a rainbow of yellows and golds and other warm hues.

"You know, our technology might damage the world in some ways, like whoever is in that organization is trying to stop," Tails started as he looked over at the beautiful scene. "But I don't think the people of Gear Point could ever mar the beauty of moments like these!"

"A lovely sentiment…Not that it changes our objective any more!" both of them jumped and looked up, seeing a tall fox of around sixteen. He had flame-red fur and spiky black hair, his piercing yellow eyes scanning over them. He wore a pair of red goggles on his forehead, a loose red button-up t-shirt, and a baggy pair of jeans. "The big guy must be losing it…Why would he send me to get rid of a pair of lightweights like you…

Tails stood up, standing protectively between the newcomer and Stacey. "And you are?" he asked curiously, looking the stranger over.

"The name's Burn…Not that it would really matter, since you're about to be charbroiled by my Flame Booster's magic anyway!" so saying, Burn formed a fireball in his hand, hurling it at Tails, who jumped out of the way as it landed in the fire he and Stacey had already made. Burn then created a ribbon of flame, wielding it like a whip and lashing it out at Tails as he jumped back. Tails ran around Burn, trying to get around him to get through his defense, though burn created more, bigger flames, preventing him from getting closer to him. Tails jumped back, analyzing the situation. "Damn, this is just like fighting Anubis, I can't even get close to him…Wait a minute…" Tails suddenly had an idea as he looked back at Stacey, particularly at the crystal gear charm on her necklace. He closed his eyes, concentrating, and Stacey looked down, startled as the charm suddenly started to glow. Burn threw the flaming ribbon towards him as Tails suddenly opened his eyes extending a hand. "Gear Shield!" a large gear suddenly appeared before his palm, deflecting the flames as they hit it.

"What the…? How the hell did you do THAT?!" Burn demanded as Tails smiled.

"I guess your boss forgot to tell you…I wield the Gear Booster!" Tails declared triumphantly. "You may wield fire, but with this I can combine any element I want with my gears…And I know just which one to start with!" he continued. "Wind Gear!" his previous disappeared to be replaced by a large light-green gear with a series of wavy lines etched on its surface to represent the wind element.

"Big deal, you'll have to use more than just a fancy-looking gear to beat me!" Burn declared, creating more flame ribbons and having them all converge on the point Tails was standing at.

"Dispell!" Tails' wind gear started spinning, sucking the flames towards the gear's center before the flames were dispelled by the wind's force.

"Wha…OOF!" Burn stared in surprise before Tails suddenly jumped on the gear, the wind adding to his speed as he shot at him and landed a powerful punch into his stomach. He quickly recovered trying to fire a blast at Tails, though he was one step ahead of him. "Earth Gear!" a small dark-green gear with a leaf etched into it appeared in Tails' right palm, and he slammed it into the ground, causing a wall of earth to rise up, blocking the fire. Tails then twirled out from around the wall, nailing Burn in the side of the head with a quick roundhouse and causing him to stagger back. As he staggered, Tails ran up to follow up with a powerful uppercut, knocking him flat on his back.

"That's IT!" Burn rolled back up on his feet, glaring furiously at Tails. "Inferno!" probably more than a hundred of Burn's flaming ribbons appeared around him, and he shot them at Tails, moving faster than before. Tails quickly made another Wind Gear, using the wind to propel himself up out of the way. He started creating more Wind Gears, making them in mid-air before he landed and jumped out of the way again. The flames started to surround Tails from all sides when was in mid-air, closing in from the top, bottom, front, back, and sides. Tails thought fast, creating two smaller Wind Gears in his palms. "Cyclone!" with the aid of his tails, he spun around, blowing away the flames. He then raised his arms, using the gears to propel himself down towards Burn and slamming his foot into his head before jumping off, creating another Wind Gear in mid-air and landing on it. He created several Wind Gears that surrounded Burn and started circling him, creating a vortex that sucked out the air so he wouldn't be able to use fire.

"Hey, Stacey, wanna see a shooting star?" he called over to Stacey, who'd been watching him fight in awe. "Fire Gear!" he created a small red gear with a flame etched into it in his right palm, covering his fist in flames as he clenched it in his palm. The gears surrounding Burn tilted, blowing him high up into the air. Tails leapt straight at Burn, using the gear's wind for speed once more as he punched Burn upwards in his stomach, setting his fur on fire.

"Make a wish!" Tails told Stacey as he landed, smiling as his punch sent Burn on a high upwards arch. He looked like a shooting star from a distance as he soared over the cliff's edge and back down the mountain.

So what do you think of Tails' power? Stay tuned, there'll be more awesome fight scenes to come!


	6. Power Up

Hey there, it's update time! I don't really feel like telling you about this chapter to be quite honest, so you'll just have to read it for yourself!

Chapter Seven: Power Up

"I don't think I've ever been in this part of the mountain," Stacey told herself as she traversed the mountainside. She was alone; Tails had gone with Shayne to another nearby town a few miles from the mountain's base to pick up some more parts not available in Gear Point. Bored, Stacey had gotten permission from her father to go exploring a little further up the mountain. She soon came to a cave and decided to take a look.

"Wow, it gets pretty dark this far in…" she commented as she stopped at the entrance to the cave's darkest reaches. She put a hand against her forehead, trying to see into the darkness. "I wonder how far it reaches…" her thoughts were scattered as something suddenly blasted the cave wall, and she jumped back from the wall as the wall crumbled a little, creating a small rockslide. The sound of thunder resounded through the cave.

"If I were you, I'd be more concerned with what's on the other side of the cave!" Stacey quickly looked behind her, finding a cat of around sixteen approaching her. She had bright yellow fur and long spiky black hair with yellow highlights like lightning bolts through it. She wore a pair of red jeans with yellow lightning bolts running down the legs along with a black t-shirt with a lightning bolt and a pair of red goggles with yellow lenses on her forehead.

"Just what I needed, another one of you elemental morons…Which one are you, Charge Cat?!" Stacey demanded.

"Call me Volt…Not that it'd be any use to you!" the cat replied as more electricity crackled around her hand. _Shit!_ Stacey thought, turning and running as another lightning strike barely missed her as she ran deeper into the cave.

"What's the matter? The famous Gear mage can't use her own power?!" Volt taunted as she followed her. Stacey looked down at the Gear charm at her chest, cursing the fact that Tails wasn't around to activate it. Meanwhile, Volt followed closely behind, lighting up the cave as she continued throwing lightning bolts at her, like some modern-day Zeus. Finally, one of the bolts caught Stacey's ankle, and she cried out at the shock as she tumbled forward. She crashed into something, and there was a sound of splintering wood before she hit the back wall of the cave headfirst. Volt laughed coldly as she approached in the darkness. Stacey was stunned momentarily from her crash as Volt quietly approached.

"Looks like the great mage of Gear Point was a fluke after all…I can't imagine how you managed to beat Burn!" sparks crackled around Volt's fingers as she gathered more electricity for the finishing lightning strike. Stacey's vision was a little blurry at first, but in the light of Volt's electricity, she saw she was lying in the splintered remains of the wooden chest she'd crashed into. She futilely tried to crawl out of the way, being faced with being hit by the attack head-on. Suddenly accidentally put her hand over something on the ground, and Volt stepped back, startled as whatever it was let off a bright flash. Stacey managed to get up, staring down at the glowing object in her hand. It seemed to be in the shape of a spark, being made of jade or some similar material. She quickly realized that it must have been another booster, and smiled, now having a weapon against this cat. She clenched her fist around it, and a group of white orbs of energy started gathering around it, making her fist glow brightly, covered in the energy.

"Try THIS on for size!" Stacey declared, slamming her glowing fist into Volt's face and sending her flying back out the entrance of the cave. Stacey strolled out, more confident in facing Volt. "Looks like you guys have it all wrong…The Gear Booster isn't mine," she explained. "THIS, however, is!" Stacey told her, tossing the booster she'd found up and down in her hand as she started to gather more energy with it.

"You little…!" Volt launched another lightning bolt at her, but Stacey was ready this time. She blocked it with the energy surrounding her hand with the booster, and Volt stepped aside, narrowly avoiding being hit by her own attack as it rebounded off the energy. Both of them got into a fighting stance, staring each other down and waiting to see who would make the first move. Suddenly, Volt frowned. "Luckily for you, I'm being summoned, otherwise I'd kill you here and now!" she told Stacey before she jumped above her onto the rock wall, bouncing high into the air off of it as she went on her way.

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"Hmm, yes, it seems to be a Charge Booster," Max told Stacey as he looked over her find. "They allow you to draw energy from your environment for powered-up attacks…A fairly common booster…"

"Wait, there's more than one of each type of booster?" Stacey asked.

"Well, yes, everyone in this world used to know some kind of magic, so naturally not EVERYONE could have a unique magic…I think the Gear Booster is really the only one-of-a-kind booster in existence," Max replied. "The organization targeting us probably wouldn't be that interested in a common booster like this…However, few people realize the potential of this type of booster," he continued. "This booster's power can actually charge the magic of other boosters as well, and it can provide some attacks that are quite useful if properly developed. All in all, you'll probably fare a lot better against your opponents with better control of it!"

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind!" Stacey replied as she took her booster from him again. _Wait 'til Tails hears about this! _she thought excitedly to herself, now even more anxious for her lover to return.

And so Stacey joins the fray as well! But will her and the others succeed in stopping their enemies' sinister plots? Stay tuned to find out!


	7. Dark Gear

Hey, sorry I've been away for so long...I was on hiatus since I only had Wordpad for a while, and much preferred the formatting and user inteface of Microsoft Word...But now, I've downloaded OpenOffice, and their word processor is essentially identical to Word! Anyway, here's my new chapter, so enjoy!

Chapter Seven: Dark Gear

"All right, that was pretty good...But let's see how you handle THIS!" Tails replied as he came out with a flaming roundhouse kick fueled by a fire booster near his leg, as Stacey blocked it with an energy-charged arm. The two of them were sparring with each other to practice using the magic of their boosters. They were toning down their powers, though, so that they wouldn't hurt each other too much when their attacks connected. Stacey seemed to be doing pretty good against Tails...Of course, there was also the fact that Tails was holding back while fighting her, though he'd never admit it. He wasn't about to be beat, however, as he jumped back and surveyed the situation. "I've got you now!" he cried out as he rushed at her, his fire gear moving up towards his fist for a fiery punch. However, as he got to her, he suddenly changed tactics as he jumped over her and switched to a thunder gear as he punched down towards her with a shocking punch.

"Overcharge!" Stacey suddenly whirled and met the gear with her energy. She charged the electricity with her own power to the point that it rebounded on Tails, shocking him instead and sending him flying a few feet back. He was laughing as he got up however, not having been hurt that much by his own power. "Nice one, Stace, I wouldn't have thought of that!" he told her modestly as he came over.

"Hey guys, I've found out some more about the boosters!" Max sped up just then, holding a thick and ancient-looking book as he came over.

"What'd you find out?" Tails asked curiously, walking over to the small cat.

"See for yourself!" Max replied, handing him the book. Stacey came over to look over Tails' shoulder at the place Max had the book open to, curious as to what it was as well. It seemed to be instructions of some sort involving weapons and boosters.

"With this, it shows how one can augment a weapon with one's booster...Sort of like how I made my arm into a weapon by putting my Strike Booster in my fist!" Max explained. "There's also a spell which links the two together to fully support each other, even if they might be separated!"

"Wow, this is awesome!" Tails replied, looking over the instructions. "With this, we just might be able to beat these guys!" he commented, flipping a few pages to read more. Max nodded. "Yeah, this will probably make your powers a lot more useful!" he agreed. "You have the resources to fabricate some weapons to be able to do this, so we should get to work on them right away!"

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About a week later, the weapons were complete and ready for action. Soon, Max met up with Tails and Stacey so that they both could show their weapons. "Here's my weapon," Stacey told Max, handing him a long katana she'd had made. "I call it the Charger, and I can still use the Charge Booster normally as well as with Charger even though its inside this katana!" she explained.

"Hmm...Lightweight, sturdy, nice sharp blade...A very fine weapon indeed!" he told her. Tails stepped up as Max handed Stacey back the Katana, and Max saw he was wearing the necklace with the Gear Booster around his neck. "Why are you wearing your booster? Didn't you make a weapon?" Max asked, confused.

"Well, I read a little more in that book you found it in, and decided it would be more convenient this way; my weapon and the booster are linked even though they're not combined; because of that, if I ever lose my booster or sword, I could use the other to retrieve it!" he explained. "For example, I didn't actually bring my weapon..." Tails continued, closing his eyes and seeming to concentrate. His booster glowed as he did so, and suddenly a long sword appeared in his hand. Its blade seemed to be made out of several pieces of shaped scrap metal that were bolted together, but it looked like it was a formidable weapon with its sharp edges and sturdy build. A pair of large gears were attached to either side of the crossguards. "Introducing the Gear Sword...Not only can I summon it when needed, I can augment it with elemental power by replacing the gears on the crossguards with my booster's elemental gears!"

"Wow, that was pretty good thinking, Tails!" Max commented as he looked over the sword. Then, something seemed to occur to him. "Did you read anything else about the capabilities of booster weapons?" he asked.

"Well, some things, but not a lot...Why?" he asked.

"Well, I just wanted to warn you to be careful with what you learned...I've read some things about people who were careless with their booster's power, and trust me, it's not pretty!" he cautioned. "Don't try anything drastic with your power, it could give you more than you can handle..."

"Relax, Max, I'm not going to do anything too dumb with this thing!" he replied confidently. As he said this, there was suddenly a crash that appeared to be coming from the main business section of the city. "Well, looks like we finished these things in time, 'cause it's about time to get into action!" he commented, and the three of them rushed to where the crash had come from. They were almost immediately washed back by a huge wave that seemingly came out of nowhere. The entire area was flooded, and seemed to be like a storm at sea. On top of a building, two women perched; a tall ferret wearing flowing blue garments with long black hair and fierce green eyes, and a grey-furred raccoon with whispy whitish-blonde hair wearing a long silver tunic. "My, looks like the so-called 'heroes' have come to save the day, Mizu," the raccoon commented, seeing the three enter the area. She seemed to be the one controlling the winds creating the massive waves washing over the city.

"Yes...Did they really think they stood a chance against our lovely little storm, Kage?" the ferret asked. She was the one producing the water washing over everything, apparently. Tails swam up to the top, joined by the others soon after just before they were washed under again.

"All right, that's it!" Tails responded as he created a large water gear and stood on top of it as he came up again. He replaced one of his sword's gears with another water gear. "Have a taste of your own medicine! Tidal Slash!" he created a wave of his own when he slashed his Gear Sword. His wave was smaller, but a lot faster as it knocked both of them into the water easily with a strong impact.

"Nice shot, Tails!" Stacey commented as she climbed up onto the gear he was using as a platform, soon joined by Max. Max then looked at something, his eyes widening. "Uh oh...Incoming!" Kage was flying above the water, her wind powers causing her to hydroplane some massive waves as she flew straight at them.

"I hope this works!" Tails said as he replaced both gears on his sword with earth gears. Before Kage got to them, he threw his sword down into the water until it reached the ground and stuck there. He then accessed his sword's power through his gear, causing the earth gears to channel their power through the blade into the ground. "I've got you...OOF!" right before Kage reached them, this process caused a rock wall to suddenly rise up in front of them, causing her to fly straight into it. Mizu ran in on the water's surface, attacking at them with watery tendrils as all three went into action. "Burst!" Stacey quickly applied quick bursts of charge energy to the tendrils as they lashed out, causing them to explode in splashes of water. "All right, now to take this one out..." Max said as he aimed his fist towards Mizu before bringing it back. However, he didn't get a chance as Kage suddenly slammed into them, knocking them off and even causing Tails to maintain the presence of his large water gear. Before they could do anything, Mizu dived under the water and rapidly circled them underwater to trap them in a massive whirlpool. Kage then flew in the air and circled around, using a strong wind to suck the water up and create a waterspout while they were still trapped. Mizu then came up and gathered water around her hand. "Water Spear!" the water shot out in several spikes, surging in and knocking all three of them out of the spout, nearly impaling them in the process before Kage slammed them back down into the water with an overhead gust of wind. The two of them mercilessly attacked them with their wind and water until they managed to get away.

"They're too powerful..." Tails said, panting as he rested on another large water gear he created. "If only I had more power...Wait a minute..." he suddenly had an idea, as he stood up and closed his eyes, concentrating immensely. He ignored the water and wind around him, and Mizu and Kage went after Stacey and Max, ignoring him for now. Pretty soon, colors from each of his elements started to surrounnd him. "They can't win...I won't let them..." he muttered to himself, concentrating on gathering as much power as he could. But then, something seemed to go wrong, as the rainbow of elements around him suddenly turned dark, surrounding him with a dark purple aura. He wasn't really himself anymore at this point...Now, he'd transformed to Dark Gear Tails!

"Hmm?" Max looked over, his eyes widening as he saw what was happening to Tails. "Oh, shit...He's actually doing it!" he cried out, trying to get through the water over to him. "Tails, STOP!!!" It was too late; the aura flared, and the water around him burst away from him, washing away until the area was dry again. There was a flash, and when it cleared, Tails stood there...But he had changed. He now wore a pure black suit of armor with long demonic wings spreading from his back. The purple aura surrounded him and his sword was as black as his armor. He looked coldly towards Mizu and Kage, glaring menacingly as he wielded his sword.

"This is bad...This is REALLY bad!" Max seemed to be freaking out a little, seeing this transformation.

"What? What happened to him?" Stacey asked, now starting to look scared.

"This has happened before...In times of crisis, a user of a booster weapon has the ability to gather enough energy to achieve super form status if given the time...However, things like this happen when the user is either feeling an extreme emotion or doesn't have the skill necessary to be able to control the immense power...The latter is probably true with Tails!" Max explained. "Right now, his booster's power has drawn out his darker nature. He's not in control of himself right now; in fact, the Tails we know is probably lost in his own subconscious while the darkness of his soul takes over!"

"Hmm, what's this? He's changed..." Mizu said, confused.

"No matter...We shall end him here and now!" Kage said. So saying, the two combined their power again, causing a huge tidal wave to come rolling towards Tails, who simply looked up at it while he prepared his sword. He slashed at it, sending a massive black wave at it and breaking it into millions of tiny droplets. The force of the attack sent the drops hurtling towards his enemies like bullets, causing a great deal of damage and subduing them.

ul

"Ugh...We may be in over our heads!" Mizu commented.

"Agreed...Retreat is the best option!" Kage said, rising into the air to fly away. Tails was faster, however, as his long demonic wings spread and he flew after Kage at top speed. Kage cried out as she felt Tails' sword slash across her back before his foot slammed down between her shoulder-blades, sending her to the ground and creating a small crater on impact.

"Oh god...Kage!" Tails turned as he heard Mizu cry out, and flew towards her as she desperately tried to escape with a jet of water before Tails stopped her when he flew in front of her and delivered a powerful slash across her torso. He was showing no mercy, not even when they were both knocked unconscious from his brutal attacks. They were eventually helplessly unconscious at his feet as he rose his sword to finish the job.

"No...If he kills them, it might work him into a blood lust and wouldn't be able to keep from killing anyone around with no discretion...He's already caused heavy collateral damage!" Max protested. Several buildings were indeed in wreckage around them as a result of Dark Gear Tails' power. Stacey looked in awe, hardly believing what she was seeing. "Tails...No..." before Max could stop her, she ran over, throwing herself over Kage and Mizu's unconscious form before Tails' sword descended upon them.

"No Tails, stop!" she cried out, tears starting to form in her eyes. "You're better than this, I know you are! You don't have to do this...They may have tried to destroy the city, but they're not worth it..." the tears were streaming down her face now. "Please Tails, stop this...." Max stared in awe as Dark Gear Tails paused, not doing anything. Then...CLANG! His sword slipped from his grasp, falling to the ground. Something seemed to be happening to him as he cried out, holding his head. "Graaaaaaaaah!" he screamed as the dark aura dissipated and his wings and armor flowed off of him as it rose in dark tendrils, disappearing into the air. The dark energy flowed off of his sword as well, and as the last of it disappeared, Tails, now back to normal, fell unconscious. He soon stirred, however, slowly coming to. "Ooh...What happened?" he almost fell on his back again as Stacey flew into his arms, embracing him tightly and burying her face into his chest. "Oh Tails...Never do something like that again..." she cried, sobbing against his fur as she was still scared about everything that had happened.

I just want to add a quick note; in case you don't know, the words Mizu and Kage are actually Japanese for water and wind...I like using names like that!


	8. Desert Storm

Hey there, I have a few new interesting villains that will be making an appearance in the story…However, you're going to have to wait until the next chapter to see who they are! Mwahahahaha…I'm so evil! ^_^ Anyways, for now you'll just have to settle with the reappearance of another villain from earlier in the story…So, enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Eight: Desert Storm

Tails didn't sleep well the night after the incidence. His dreams kept being haunted of the images of his dark form, destroying everything he saw without any discretion. He'd woken up several times during the night, being woken by his dreams. The last time that he woke up, it was morning and the sunlight was streaming in through the window. However, it didn't seem to have been the dream or the sunlight that had woken him this time. Rather, he suddenly realized that it must have been the feeling of movement that he was feeling even lying there in his bed. He went over to the window, seeing that the workshop was leaving the mountain on the long legs the buildings of that world seemed to have. He looked out, seeing that Vince and Stacey's workshop was walking along beside theirs. He shrugged, getting dressed and grabbing his Gear Charm and sword before he headed downstairs.

Shayne was at the table as he came down, looking up and smiling as he entered. There was also a plate of breakfast at Tails' spot for when he did wake up. "Good morning!" he greeted him.

"Sleep well?" he asked conversationally.

"Not exactly," Tails admitted, sitting down at the table and shoveling some scrambled eggs into his mouth.

"Not surprising," Shayne acknowledged, sipping some coffee. "Yesterday was quite the day!"

"Yeah, I guess…" Tails replied. "By the way, why are we in the desert?" Tails asked.

"Well, unfortunately something rather unexpected concerning yesterday's events seems to have unfolded this morning…" Shayne replied, sliding over the morning's newspaper over to him.

Tails looked at it, shocked to see himself as his dark form on the front page picture. As he skimmed through the article, there were more photos, some showing the flood. However, no mention of Mizu or Kaze was present in the article or the photos…In fact, the entire headline made Tails out to be the one who did all the damage, not just the damage he caused when he lost control of his powers.

"Neither me or Vince know who could have possibly framed you like this…However, as far as we know, it's just local news, so we should be safe when we get to…Are you all right, Tails?" Shayne asked suddenly, seeing how Tails was staring down at the front page picture again in disbelief.

"Was that…Really me?" he asked, shocked at the idea that he had really turned into such a sinister-seeming being. Before Shayne could answer, however, there was a loud bang from outside. Tails ran to the window as Shayne went over to the leg controls and halted the workshop. It seemed their neighbors' workshop had broken a pipe on one of the legs, and steam billowed out into the hot desert air.

"Damn it!" Vince came out, keeping away from where the steam was blowing as he looked down at the damaged leg. "Dang thing's always breaking down every time we try to move it!" he complained.

"Need some help, dad?" Stacey came out, seeing what had happened.

"No, it's fine…" Vince then looked over to Shayne's shop. "Hey, it's all right if you guys go ahead, we'll catch up!" he called over to them.

"Hey, we couldn't leave you two behind…We'll wait for you while you get your shop up and running again!" Shayne called back. Vince shrugged. "Suit yourself," he replied.

Stacey went over to Shayne's shop as her dad continued working on theirs, figuring that she'd might as well spend some time with Tails. Tails was glad she did, he needed to keep his mind off of the situation they were in for a while. There wasn't much to do outside, considering they were in the middle of the desert. There was an assortment of board games and other things in the workshop, though so they were kept busy enough.

After a while, however, Tails started to get sort of a strange feeling. He didn't know what it felt like, but it seemed to be something in the air, like a gathering storm. Stacey didn't seem to notice, though, and he didn't mention it since he didn't want to worry her; they'd both been through a lot since they'd met. He remained cautious however, wary of anything that might occur.

* * *

"Finally, it's fixed!" Tails jolted awake, looking around wildly for a moment. It was night by now, and it was pitch black outside. He felt a weight on his shoulder, finding Stacey leaning against him, fast asleep. He realized they both must have fallen asleep sometime during the evening while playing one of the games. He yawned, stretching a little before he gently laid Stacey down on the couch, trying not to wake her. He covered her with a blanket before he stood up and walked over to the window. It seemed like Vince had not only repaired the leg, but had improved it so that it would no longer break like it had.

"That's great!" Shayne called over from another window he was standing at. "Though you should call it night…Your daughter's asleep over here, and Tails and I are probably going to turn in as well," he explained.

"All right, that's probably a good idea…" Vince agreed as he picked up his tools and went inside. Tails headed up to his room afterward, changing into his pajamas and sliding under the covers. He was about to fall asleep again when something suddenly jarred the workshop, rattling the building. He sat up, suddenly alert as he jumped out of bed just before what seemed like a giant stone spike suddenly impaled up through the floor and his bed where he'd been lying. Had he been a second slower, it would've killed him…He shuddered a little at the thought before he quickly pulled on a pair of jeans and grabbed his sword, avoiding more spikes as he ran to the window and jumped out. Shayne and Stacey soon joined him, Vince protesting loudly as one of the spikes impaled the leg he'd been working on next door. However, Tails was more concerned about the cause of the spikes as he looked around.

"YOU!" Tails whirled around, his eyes widening as he saw who it was who'd attacked the workshops. An all-too-familiar Jackal was making his way towards him, seeming furious. "You may be our enemy, but this time you've gone too far!" Anubis growled, clenching a fist.

"What are you…" Tails was cut off as Anubis made a stone pole shoot from the ground hitting Tails in the stomach. Tails was knocked back, dropping his sword as he was winded from the hit and Anubis charged after him.

"Not so fast!" Stacey knocked Anubis to the side as she released a crescent-shaped energy wave from her own sword at him, having charged her sword when Anubis started approaching. Tails got back up, picking up his sword and replacing the gears with a couple fire gears. Stacey boosted their power, allowing Tails to set his blade on fire with a huge blade as he ran towards Anubis to attack him with this attack. However, Anubis raised a wall of sand between them, the sand turning to glass as the flaming attack connected with it. Anubis drew his sword, smashing the wall, and Tails just barely had enough time to throw his left arm over his eyes to keep any shards from getting in them. He was bleeding as the other shards dug into his skin under his fur. Anubis didn't give him a chance to pull them out as he charged forward, barely giving Tails enough time to raise his sword to block his sword strike. Tails jumped back, analyzing the situation. He replaced the gears on his sword again, this time using water gears as he ran towards Anubis, who started creating an armor made of solid rock as he did so.

"WATER?! Do you honestly think you can…" Anubis was cut off as Tails struck the armor on his chest, ice spreading from the tip before he stuck again, smashing through the rock as the ice weakened the armor enough for him to break it. However, this only succeeded in making Anubis angry as he slammed his palms into the ground. Two large stone pillars shot from the ground, bending and twisting as Anubis manipulated them. Tails jumped out of the way as they smashed into the ground where he was standing. Stacey tried to get through with her sword charged, but Anubis simply caused several stone spikes to surround her, keeping her from going anywhere as he continued his assault on Tails. More pillars shot out of the ground, and Tails couldn't keep dodging as he was struck by one and cried out as he was slammed into the ground. Anubis still wasn't letting up as the pillars brutally attacked, driving the glass shards in deeper and breaking several bones. Tails eventually passed out, unable to take this abuse…

Tails woke up some time later, his entire body sore. He tried sitting up, but quickly laid back down as it made the pain worse.

"Ah, you're awake…We've been worried about you!" Tails looked to the side, finding Shayne, Vince, and Stacey all by his bed with worried expressions. He smiled, though he wondered why Anubis hadn't finished him off. "What happened?" he asked. "Wasn't Anubis about to kill me?"

"Well, that's the strange part about it…After you lost consciousness, he simply left, as if there was nothing more to add…We thought maybe he thought he'd killed you, though it could have been more about settling the score as well…" Shayne explained. "What matters is that he didn't kill you…It'll probably be a while before we reach our destination, so that would leave you plenty of time to rest and recover," he replied.

"We'll really need to watch our backs though…Anubis might not be the only one who stages an attack," Stacey replied. "I didn't think you were going to wake up, though…You've been out since last night, and it's almost five now…" her ears drooped a little, and Tails could tell that she'd been crying earlier. He reached out a hand and she took it, seeming to be reassured by the gesture.

"Well, no one else's shown up at least…It should be pretty fairly uneventful for a while," Vince put in. "Though don't you two worry…After we get to our new home, I'm sure everything will go back to normal; these guys probably don't know where we're going, and I don't think they could do anything without that booster they keep going after," he assured them. Tails smiled at Vince, but he wasn't too sure. He had a bad feeling things were about to go very very wrong…

* * *

Sorry I took so long getting this out, I've been stressed about things and I'm also considering trying a new kind of fic using elements from my first fanfictions…Anyway, I'll probably have the next one out sooner, and it'll also mark the start of a big three-part battle!


	9. The Clock Town Battle Part 1

Hey there! A few new enemies oppose our heroes in this chapter, though things might change between them after this epic fight!

* * *

Chapter Nine: The Clock Town Battle Part One: Mirror Mirror

"Wow, that thing's huge!" Stacey marveled, staring up at the approaching landmark. Tails stood beside her, nodding. They were staring at a huge clock tower, looming over the horizon at least 80 feet tall. The massive clock was so high that they could see it even when a lot of the city couldn't be seen from a distance.

"Yep…Gear Point has a lot of business, but this city's the country's REAL capital!" Shayne agreed. "That clock tower took at least a century to complete…The original town was brought together by the task of finishing it, so it's the pride and joy of Clock Town! It had taken a few months to get there with many stops at some minor towns, so it had given Tails plenty of time to heal and get back up on his feet. He was eager to explore the city as well, having been able to see the tower when they were still pretty far away.

It wasn't too much longer before they arrived in the city, looking around and marvelling at all it had to offer. As the workshops stepped through the city limits, a small group of elderly Mobians each wearing a set of dark blue robes came to greet them.

"On behalf of the city council, we welcome you to Clock Town," the leader greeted, bowing his head as the others bowed their heads as well. "We hope that your stay will be enjoyable and…"

"All right, Mendo, we can take it from here," a much younger female voice suddenly cut him off. A tall brown-furred vixen who seemed to be around sixteen years of age made her way towards the council. She stood at "5'8, her long black hair slightly frizzed at the bottom. She wore a pair of denim jeans, a white tank-top, and a large red fanny pack. Two long swords were sheathed at her sides. With her was a silver wolf with brown hair seeming to be the same age. He was "5'7 and wore a long pair of jeans and a pair of thick brown gloves. He didn't wear a shirt, though he seemed to have a length of chain wrapped several times across his chest from his left hip to his right shoulder. The elders nodded. "Of course, Miss Brooke…A Chief Mechanic of the city would probably serve as a more suitable guide!" the leader agreed as the Council departed.

"Chief Mechanic, huh?" Tails asked as he jumped down from the workshop, Stacey close behind him. "I'm a pretty handy mechanic myself! You can call me Tails, and this is Stacey!" Tails said as he introduced them.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Brooke, and this is my partner/boyfriend Steel!" Brooke replied, smiling.

"Charmed to meet you both," Shayne and Vince came out as well and they'd soon introduced themselves as well.

"Well, if you're new citizens, you're going to have to register your workshops and residents over at the city hall," Brooke explained to the men, pointing. "Though we could also show Tails and Stacey around while you go and do that," she suggested. Shayne nodded. "Yes, I think I'm sure they'd like that!" he agreed as the two of them started to head towards the city hall.

"All right then, come on!" Brooke told Stacey and Tails as the two of them started the other way as they led the way into the city.

* * *

Soon after the two workshops made their way into the city, there had been several reports by the residents of a small orange streak speeding through the city. It tore through various parts of the colossal city, startling many people as it sped by. Finally, it stopped as Max leaned against the side of a building, panting from having run full-speed through at least half of the city.

"Damn it, I KNOW I heard that they were here…Why does this city have to be so huge?!" he asked himself. He didn't wonder about where they were long, however, as he suddenly spotted Shayne and Vince heading towards the front door of the city hall. "Wait!" he called over, rushing over to them in a matter of seconds. "Finally, I found you!" he panted.

"Well, hello, Max," Shayne greeted him, though he was surprised by his sudden appearance. "What brings you here?"

"When did you guys arrive?" Max asked, seeming a little frantic for some reason.

"About twenty minutes ago," Shayne replied, estimating the time in his head. "How come?"

"Crud, they probably know by now, then…Hurry, you have to…" Max cut short as he saw two policemen heading towards them, and he sighed. "Too late…"

"Shayne Hoffman and Vince Ross?" the lead officer asked as he stepped towards them.

"Indeed," Shayne replied, nodding.

"Then you are hereby placed under arrest for housing criminals and potentially threatening the safety of the citizens of Clock Town!"

* * *

Meanwhile, Tails and Stacey were being showed around the city as Brooke explained more about it to them. It seemed like the Chief Mechanics like herself were a sort of higher authority in the city; mechanics weren't only important to their economy, they also needed to be trustworthy and strong in order to protect their city from outside threats. Because of this, the Chief Mechanics were given authority to be able to keep trouble from arising as well as protect the citizens. She also pointed out some areas of interest, even providing a little history about each part. Tails and Stacey were both fascinated by all there was to see…So much so in fact, that they didn't actually realize that they were slowly being led towards the city limits.

Finally, they arrived at what appeared to be Brooke and Silver's shop, which was near the edge of the city. Their shop was a tall three-story building, their names engraved on a huge gear set near the top of the building.

"Well, this is where we work, though there's actually a problem with one of the machines I was going to fix before we heard newcomers were coming to the city, so I guess we'll have to postpone a tour of here for now," Brooke explained. "Steel knows an interesting spot a little ways outside the city if you'd like to do some more sight-seeing while I take care of it, though," she replied. Stacey shrugged. "I guess we don't have much else to do…Come on, Tails!" she replied, starting to follow Steel. Tails started to follow as well when something suddenly occurred to him; if fixing that machine was so important, why had Brooke and Steel spent two hours showing them around instead of taking care of it? Something strange was going on…

"Actually, you two go on ahead, I think I'd like to stay and help Brooke with the machine," he replied.

"Well…Okay, I guess that'd be all right…I'll tell you about it later when we get back!" Stacey decided, going off with Steel.

"Okay then, its in here," Brooke told Tails, leading him inside. "Its down this hallway," she explained. "Why don't you go first? You really seem to know what you're doing, so you'll probably want to take a look right away," she asked.

"All right," Tails replied, heading down the hallway. As he walked, he noticed that the walls were lined with mirrors. There were mirrors everywhere, little of the walls actually showed through all of the mirrors hanging on them. He was wondering about them when he suddenly was aware of a very slight sound, like something flying through the air…CLANG! Steel met steel as the tip of one of Brooke's swords struck against the flat of the blade of Tails' sword, Tails having unsheathed it and swung around just as she'd launched the attack. He smirked. "What do you know, I guess that cliché deception tactic IS still in common use!" he remarked, thrusting his sword so that Brooke's blade was knocked away before he twirled and kicked her in the stomach, using the momentum from his spin to send her staggering a few feet back.

"Guhh!" Brooke grunted in pain at the unexpected attack, but soon recovered as she regained her composure and drew her other sword. "Why do you criminals always choose the hard way?" she growled. Before Tails had time to process the fact that she thought he was a criminal, she was rushing at him, slashing swiftly with both of her swords with a high level of expertise. Tails ducked, dodged, and parried with his own sword before he managed to get enough room to summon a fire gear on his free palm, thrusting it outward as he hurled a fireball at her. However, Brooke merely smirked as she sheathed one of her swords and held her hand out towards him. A mirror appeared in front of her hand, the fireball disappearing into it and shooting out of another mirror on the wall. Tails jumped back just in time to avoid getting singed by the attack at the fireball kept shooting out of the mirrors, picking up speed until he finally met it at one point, using a wind gear to blow it out.

"I'm all too aware of your power," Brooke replied as she continued advancing. "However, not even a legendary booster such as yours stands a chance against me…I use a mirror booster, I can simply bounce anything you could possibly throw at me right back!" Tails took in this information, deciding on a different tactic. He ran to the end of the hall, running into the room at the end so he'd have more room to work with. However, he suddenly realized how in over his head he was when he saw what was in the room; mirrors, the entire room was filled with mirrors on every inch. Walls, floor, even the ceiling, countless reflections of himself were at every corner, a few bright lights at the edges of the room providing plenty of light to be able to have the mirrors catch their reflections. Before he could turn back, the door slammed behind him, and he heard the click of the lock before Brooke entered the room through a mirror, pointing a sword towards him. "Now I've got you…You'll never be able to defeat me in here, surrounded by the very mirrors that give me my power," she declared.

"We'll see," Tails replied, running forward, but Brooke jumped down into a mirror, popping out of another one behind him and nearly slashing him before he leapt out of the way. This went on for a while until Tails got a pretty good idea of what mirrors could lead where, even though there seemed to be variations. He dodged as she came out of one mirror, dived under another attack, and then leapt towards one the lights as he passed her. She suddenly came out of another mirror, knocking him back with the flat of one of her swords' blades. "What the?" he got back up, suddenly realizing that she couldn't have entered another mirror that quickly. However, it didn't seem to be her as she was still standing where she'd been when he'd passed her…She was ALSO standing in front of the light, as it seemed she'd suddenly created a clone of one of her reflections.

"Did you think that was ALL I could do?" the real Brooke asked. "I can attack you any time," another reflection replied. "From anywhere," another reflection said as it climbed out of the mirror. "And everywhere!" Tails suddenly found himself surrounded as a multitude of reflections popped out of the mirrors everywhere. Tails glared at them, before he jumped into the air, creating a pair of wind gears on which he landed, keeping him hovering in the air. Another one also appeared next to his sword hand. "All right, you may have the number advantage, but let's see how skilled you REALLY are!" he challenged. The reflections charged, but Tails rapidly spun around with the aid of his gears, taking out the nearest reflections with his sword as he performed a full 360. He soon found that the reflections didn't seem to have the same swordsmanship skill as the original as he blew through the room like a hurricane, using the wind to greatly increase his speed. He attacked another one, and this one suddenly raised a sword to block his blade. "Found you!" he declared, spinning around and nailing her with the back of his fist, the reflections disappearing as she was knocked back; he'd found the original. "Now I've got you!" he said, rushing towards her with his sword as she got back to her feet before she cartwheeled to the side into another mirror. She didn't appear again, however, so Tails kept on his guard, his eyes scanning the room to look for her.

"Tails…" his ears pricked up as he suddenly heard another voice, recognizing it as Stacey's.

"Stacey?" he asked, looking around wildly. Her voice sounded weak, scared. He suddenly found her, horrified to find the condition she was in. Her clothes were torn, bleeding profusely as the blood pooled on the floor around her. "What happened?!"

"I also suspected something…I lost Steel and followed you here, but Brooke just found me as you tried to attack her again…" she replied. Tails sheathed his sword, coming towards her as she stretched her hand out towards him. "Heelp meeee…" she gasped, her voice getting weaker as Tails moved closer. "NOT!" Stacey suddenly turned into Brooke, and before he could do anything, she'd slashed both swords across his chest, leaving an x-shaped cut before she kicked him back. "I can't believe you actually fell for that…How pathetic," she retorted as Tails got back up, almost shaking with rage. He lunged at her before she jumped into another mirror, reflections soon pouring out from the mirrors above him. He looked up, scanning intently as they fell. When they were almost upon him, he suddenly flew up, punching the real Brooke hard in the face and sending her arcing towards the other end of the room, the reflections disappearing. She got back up, a little dazed. She had a black eye on her right eye, and her nose was bleeding slightly from the force of her opponent's punch. "How did you…?" she asked, breaking off before she finished the sentence.

"Your reflections might look almost exactly like you…But there will always be one difference," Tails replied, still glaring at her. "They'll always be the exact opposite of you, a reflection…All I have to do is find the one you who's holding her swords in the opposite hands from the others,"

"Very good, but it won't save you!" Brooke rapidly rushed at him, going from one mirror to the next in rapid succession as she slashed at him, but Tails could always turn to block before she disappeared into a mirror once more. Then, as she appeared again, he suddenly threw his sword at her, though she disappeared into another mirror before it reached her.

"Ha! " Brooke came out of another mirror, laughing at his futile attempt. "Did you really think you could…" she was cut off by a loud smash that came from where he'd been aiming, however. Tails smirked. "What makes you think I was aiming for you?" he asked. Brooke stared; there, on the other side of the room, was Tails' sword, still sticking out from the smashed bulb of one of the spotlights, casting that room into darkness, nothing to cast reflections on the mirrors on that part anymore. As she stared, Tails caught her by surprise as he ran over while she was distracted. Grabbing her by the sides, he turned, using his momentum to launch her into the darkened area. She crashed into several mirrors, the shards cutting her as they rained down. "I hope you know your math, because that's a hell of a lot of bad luck!" Tails taunted as he came over and picked up the groggy Brooke before she could get her bearings. He spun his tails, lifting her up into the air as he held her firmly by her left wrist and ankle. She soon got her bearings, struggling in his grip.

"What the hell are you doing?! Let me go!" She said, futilely thrashing around.

"In a moment…But first, tell me this; exactly how many of the mirrors in this room are connected?" Tails asked.

"All of them that have reflections, but why do you…" she stopped as she suddenly realized what he was saying. "You WOULDN'T…"

"You must not know me very well!" Tails replied as he started to spin her around. He summoned a few wind gears, the wind adding to the speed as he spun faster and faster…Then, he suddenly let go. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Brooke was sent head-first into a0 mirror in the area that was still lit, sending her on a wild trajectory path as she rapidly flew from mirror to mirror, picking up speed as she continued her flight pattern. Tails stepped aside as she finally came out of the same mirror she'd come, blowing past him and smashing right through the wall to the outside with the speed she'd attained, reflective shards of the mirror flying as she took out the rest of the mirrors on the wall. The sun shined through the Brooke-shaped hole in the wall as he flew out into the daylight once more.

* * *

And that wraps up the first part of this fight, stay tuned for more!


	10. The Clock Town Battle Part 2

Hey there, now it's time for Stacy's portion of the fight against Steel, so hang on and get ready for some more action!

* * *

Chapter Ten: The Clock Town Battle Part Two: Steel Defense

Stacey followed Steel out of the town, wondering what he had in store to show her outside the city limits. Though she had to wonder about Tails…It seemed rather odd how he'd suddenly changed his mind and decided to help Brooke…She wondered if he thought something was up, it didn't seem like him to make such a decision change on a moment's notice. She decided not to worry about it, deciding to see what was so interesting out here first.

"So, what's out here, anyway?" Stacey asked, a little curious. They'd been walking for a while, and she was beginning to think maybe there was reason not to trust Steel. "You'll see, it's not much farther," Steel replied simply. Finally, they came to a large steel disk set into the ground, about the size of a sumo ring. "We're here," Steel told her, and before she knew what was happening, he suddenly threw her into the center of the disk before he pulled out a shiny metal booster in the shape of a hammer which glowed as large steel bars suddenly grew out from the edges of the disk, trapping her inside.

"Hey!" Stacey got up, furious that she'd been tricked so easily. "What the hell is this?!" she demanded.

"Just my way of dealing with criminals…Brooke might prefer a more direct approach, though I think this way is so much simpler," Steel replied matter-of-factly. "That should hold you pretty well while I go to get the authorities," he said, turning.

"Well, things aren't always this simple," Stacey growled, unsheathing her sword. She gathered energy into the blade, causing it to glow brightly before she suddenly let loose a wide slash, releasing an energy wave that suddenly cut through the bars, allowing her to jump out. She ran up to Steel, connecting to his back with a powerful kick. However, there was suddenly a loud clang, and pain shot through her leg as she kicked him. She cried out in pain before Steel whirled around, sending her sprawling with a powerful punch.

"You guys always have to do it the hard way," Steel commented as he unwound the chain wrapped around his chest, drawing out some the length between his hands before slowly starting to swing the loose end around in circles. "I'm afraid you'll have to do a lot more than that…My booster allows me to have full control over metal, and I've used it to my advantage," he explained. "The individual strands of my fur are coated with steel, forming a natural armor similar to chain mail…None of your attacks will be able to reach me!" Stacey shakily got up, taking in this information. It looked like she was in over her head in this one…Until she remembered something Max had told her about how Boosters worked, which gave her an idea.

"I guess I can't fight you…At least you can't stop me from escaping!" She retorted, suddenly running past him.

"That's what you think!" Steel slammed his onto the steel plate while holding the chain, using it to cause several large steel spikes come slanting out of the ground towards her to try and impale her. Stacey simply swerved, heading another direction before Steel caused more obstacles to come up. Stacey continued this game, jumping, ducking, and rolling under the steel obstacles. Meanwhile, Steel's fur seemed to steadily be losing its shiny luster, though he didn't seem to notice. Suddenly, Stacey ran right up to him, kneeing him in the gut. "GUHHH!" Steel groaned as he stumbled back into a steel pole he'd made. Stacey twirled, spinning on the way up to him until she cut a slash straight from his stomach to chest with a vertical slash, causing him to fall to his knees in pain.

"How…How did you get past my armor?!" he demanded.

"What armor?" Stacey asked matter-of-factly. "Oh wait, do you mean the armor you just used to try and stop me with?" she asked, gesturing around to the metal obstacle field around them as he stared in disbelief. "Boosters might be magical, but even they have their limits…I knew you never would have mainained your armor from making this many obstacles…You've practically beat yourself!"

"Why you little," Steel got up to hit her, but Stacey quickly retaliated, dropping to knock him off his feet onto his back hard. "AAAAAH!" he screamed in pain.

"Just as I thought…I found your weakness as well!" Stacey replied. "You always hide behind that armor because your power is your only strength, you can't take the pain!" she retorted. "I'm not sure what Brooke sees in you…You seem like sort of a wimp!" Stacey didn't taunt him much more for long, however, as Steel suddenly slammed his fist into the ground, one of the poles retracting back into the ground before it shot up again into Stacey's stomach, knocking her back several feet as well as winding her.

"I'll show you who's a wimp, bitch!" Steel growled angrily. Metal formed over the slash that she'd given him, closing the wound and keeping him from losing any more blood. The steel obstacles disappeared as Steel reformed his armor over his fur, this time double-coating it to keep her from getting through. He picked up his chain, swinging the end of it again as Stacey got up before lashing it out straight towards her, the end sharpening into a metal spike. She narrowly avoided it, jumping back as she thought about her next course of action. Steel was most likely going to be slower with the added weight of the extra metal on his fur, but there was no doubt that armor was going to keep him from harm. Considering these facts, she had an idea as she started charging energy in her fist while avoiding him. Steel angrily lashed out again and again with his chain, each time Stacey dodging to avoid it. After a few moments, Stacey had charged enough energy that her fist was actually glowing red, small ribbons of white energy swirling around it. "Let's see your armor stand up to this!" she declared, running up and slamming her fist into his chest. The energy exploded in one big burst upon contact, knocking them both away in the opposite directions as a large section of the metal coating Steel's fur was shattered, pieces of shrapnel falling around them like glistening rain for a moment.. Stacey managed to land on her feet, while Steel landed flat on his back, groaning. He shakily got up, hardly being able to stand the pain.

"Had enough?" Stacey asked, wielding her sword as he faced her.

"N-Not a chance," he growled, trying to raise his chain before he fell to his knees. Stacey walked up, backhanding him across the face. He wavered a little after the hit before finally falling face-down, unconscious. "Guess your defense can't hold up to someone with real fighting skills," she commented, looking around. She wasn't sure where the city had been, though she didn't want to try and find it and get herself even more lost in the process.

"Steel!" Stacey looked up as she suddenly found Brooke running towards them while angrily unsheathing her swords as she lunged towards Stacey. A stone wall suddenly rose from the ground in front of her, however, causing Brooke to plunge face-first into it.

"If you really do touch her, I'm not going to hold back this time!" Tails told Brooke as he walked up from behind. It seemed he'd recovered his sword, and he'd torn his t-shirt into strips, using them as makeshift bandages to dress the wound Brooke had given him in their battle. Stacey quickly joined him, while Brooke recovered and ran to Steel's side. After a few moments, Steel groaned, weakly getting up.

"You two ready to give in and tell us what the hell is going on yet?" Tails asked, brandishing his sword.

"Don't get too cocky, fox-boy, we're not finished yet!" Brooke snarled.

"You have yet to see what our powers can accomplish together!" Steel agreed, getting to his feet as he gathered his chain.

"Show us what you got, then!" Stacey replied, readying herself as well. Steel then gathered the metal on his fur, causing it to spread out before it started to stretch, forming a large metal dome around them which included holes so that plenty of light could get in. Brooke then formed dozens of mirrors into the metal itself, surrounding them with their own reflections. Finally, Steel melded one end of his chain onto the wall before he swung it and threw the end into one of the mirrors. It started to grow longer and Tails and Stacey jumped to avoid the chain as it came out of mirrors everywhere, soon forming a confusing network of chains, the end of the chain hitting the opposite wall and melding into it like the other end.

"You're in our territory now…Welcome to Metal Mirror Arena, our ultimate fighting environment!" Brooke retorted. "There's nowhere you can go to escape our power…Steel can use any of these chains for a sneak attack, and my mirrors are all around so I can attack from any and all mirrors…You've lasted a lot longer against us than anyone we've faced, but this is where you'll fall!"

"Okay then, bring it on!" Tails replied.

"Yeah, now we'll see if you're really as powerful as you make yourselves out to be!" Stacey agreed, taking her fighting stance. "We've come this far, we're not about to be stopped against the likes of you!"

* * *

And this is where I'll leave it off…Sorry the fight was so short, the final part of this battle in the next chapter is sure to be better.


	11. The Clock Town Battle Part 3

Hey there, it's time for the long-awaited conclusion to this battle! Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter Eleven: The Clock Town Battle Part Three: Battle Royale

Tails assessed the situation as the battle began with Brooke running into one of the mirrors around the dome and Steel jumped up on the chains that were now spread around the arena like a spider's web.

"I think I know how to stop Steel, at least," he told Stacey as he summoned a thunder gear and throwing it at the chain Steel stood on before using his tails to fly up from another direction and slash him with his sword. Unfortunately, Steel seemed to be expecting this strategy as he used some of the metal coating his fur to form a blade of his own. As the current of electricity flowed from the gear, he touched the blade to the chain to transfer it to the weapon before turning and parrying Tails' own blade, shocking him with the electricity as it ran through the sword. As he started to fall back to where he came from, Brooke then came flying out of a nearby mirror. She hit him in the stomach with a flying kick and sent him crashing back into one of the dome walls.

"Okay, I guess that wasn't really the smartest course of action," Tails reasoned as he got back up.

"You think?" Stacey asked him, grinning a little. "There's also something you should know; Steel's fur is coated with metal, so you'll have to find another way to beat him if you want to get through his natural armor," she told him.

"Good to know…Now that we know what we're dealing with, let's beat these guys!" Tails replied, jumping up on the chains as Stacey followed. Brooke then came shooting out of a mirror in the floor, heading right towards Stacey.

"Going up!" she quipped as she grabbed Stacey, pulling her up with her as they both disappeared into a mirror. Tails left her to fight Brooke before he turned back to Steel, flying up to the chain he stood on. He dodged several attacks as Steel sent several spiked metal poles his way to try for impaling him. He tried knocking him off the chain with an upward kick towards his face, though Steel blocked with an arm. Tails jumped off his arm, flipping back to land further down the chain, realizing too late that Steel had created several metal spikes where he was about to land. He clenched his teeth against the pain as they cut through his shoes into his feet, but began to retaliate as he replaced his sword's gears with earth gears. His sword's blade turned to stone before it lengthened, slamming into Steel's stomach and knocking him off the chain.

Meanwhile, Stacey suddenly found herself in what seemed to be some other dimension with a shimmering reflective environment, many rectangles around her showing views of the dome. She quickly realized that this place must have been the dimension produced by Brooke's booster, the source of her powers. Brooke threw her hard into the ground, and she got up in time to see her opponent running towards her while wielding both swords. Stacey quickly gathered energy in her sword before parrying, the energy exploding and causing Brooke to spread out from her body from the impact on her swords, leaving her wide open for an attack. Before she could recover, Stacey quickly kicked her back into out of one of the mirrors, jumping out of a different one herself.

"All right, mirror gal, let's see if you can keep up!" Stacey taunted before focusing energy into her feet. She manipulated the energy to be able to form a sort of grip to whatever her feet touched, allowing her to run upside-down on the chains, going every which way each time Brooke tried to ambush her from a mirror.

"Stay still, damn it!" Steel yelled at Tails meanwhile. Tails had summoned a few wind gears near his feet, using the increased speed they gave him to quickly dodge his attacks.

"Hey, your guys' powers might be better, but neither of you have the wits to be able to beat us!" Tails goaded him, continuing to dodge. He then summoned a third wind gear and the other two gears started to circle in front of it, creating strong air currents.

"Let's see how you like this! Hurricane Cannon!" he thrust the third gear into the air currents, creating a large blast of wind that knocked Steel clear over to the other side of the arena, giving him the time to prepare one of his latest attacks that he had thought of creating with his gears. Steel soon came back, jumping from chain to chain to leap up near him.

"All right, now you're gonna…" Steel leaped up towards Tails while creating another blade with his armor's metal, though was cut off as Tails slammed something into him, knocking him back down to a lower chain.

"I'm afraid it won't be that easy!" Tails replied.

"Huh? What IS that?!" Steel demanded. Tails now seemed to have a large gear attached to his left arm like a shield, a large lion's head protruding from his gear shield.

"Like it?" Tails asked, smirking. "I call it the Leo Gear…I think you'll find it'll soon turn that armor of yours against you!"

"We'll just see about that!" Steel replied. "It might give you a better defense, though I doubt it has any way to get through my armor!"

"Oh, I assure you most confidently, it does!" Tails replied as an orange glow appeared in the lion's mouth. "Lion's Roar!" a bright orangish-yellow beam suddenly shot from the lion's mouth, engulfing Steel in it.

"AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGHHHH!" Steel felt a powerful surge of electricity rip through his body, causing him a great deal of pain. However he suddenly realized he was being burned as well as the metal coating his fur was suddenly red-hot. He could barely stand at this point, falling off the chain to the floor before shakily getting to his knees.

"What WAS that?!" he demanded as Tails jumped down in front of him, the Leo Gear disappearing as he grinned at him.

"A most potent combination…That blast contained concentrated energy from both my fire and thunder elements, both of them effectively turning that armor-like fur against you," Tails explained. "It looks like it really heated you up…So allow me to cool you down!" he declared, replacing his sword's gears with water gears and surrounding the blade with ice. He ran up to Steel, his sword breaking through his armor easily as the hot metal met the cold blade. Steel was knocked back a few feet, landing hard on his back before starting to get up again.

"All right, now it's time to finish this so I can go and help Stacey!" Tails told him before he ran up to him, aiming a kick at his head.

"I'm not through yet!" Steel suddenly blocked the attack with a hand, grabbing a nearby chain and using the metal to encase Tails' leg in metal.

"What the…?" Tails didn't have long to wonder over this tactic before Steel punched him with a metal-coated fist, sending him flying back. Tails groggily got up, groaning and spitting out a few bloody teeth.

"Geeze, I'm even going to have to see a dentist after this…" he commented before he saw Steel running towards him again. He tried to jump out of the way, but his metal-coated leg prevented him from doing so, keeping him in place.

"Shit…" he swore before he doubled over in pain as Steel kicked him in the stomach with another metallic attack.

Stacey was holding her own against Brooke in another part of the dome, fending off her attacks while standing on the underside of one the chains, her energy grip holding strong. She jumped above Brooke as she came out of one of the mirrors, slamming down into her back to cause her to impact hard with the floor.

"Why don't you just give it up…We both know that even both of you…" Stacey was cut off as the Brooke on the floor suddenly disappeared and around ten more clones fell from the higher mirrors, landing on her and pinning her down.

"Let's see how easily we beat you now!" the real Brooke snarled as the clones picked her up, holding her arms and legs so she wouldn't be able to escape. Steel saw her immobilize Stacey, and stopped waling on Tails, running to finish the job as Brooke's clones held her still. However, after he was almost to her, Tails suddenly appeared from above him, knocking him back with a powerful kick to the face.

"What?" Steel reeled back, stunned by the sneak attack. "How could you move that quickly?!" Tails himself was in a pretty bad shape from the beaten he'd taken earlier. His wound sustained from his earlier battle with Brooke had opened again, one of his ears seemed to have come close to having been torn off, and it appeared Steel had broken his left arm. However, the most notable thing about him at this point was the fact that his metal-encased leg, the one he'd kicked Steel with, was now covered with a layer of solid rock as well.

"You shouldn't underestimate me…When you left, that gave me enough time to give my leg an extra coating, this time with an earth gear…I might not be able to control your metal, but as long as my leg is covered in my earth element, I can move it by manipulating that element!" Tails explained. His explanation done, Tails suddenly caused a pillar of earth to come out of the ground, hitting him in the head and knocking him out once more.

"Two down, one to go," Tails growled as he turned towards Brooke and her clones, who were still holding Stacey.

"Is that so? Well, I know your weakness…You can't normally control more than one element at once, can you? Since you need earth to move your leg, that puts you at a disadvantage!"

"Maybe so…But it will still be enough to defeat you with our combined power," Tails replied curtly. He kneeled down so his broken arm touched the ground, using his element to coat his arm in stone to be able to move it as well. He then slammed his palm into the ground, destroying the clones holding Stacey with earthy spikes that came out of the ground under them.

"You ready, Stacey?" he asked, getting into a fighting stance.

"Yeah," Stacey replied, nodding. She wasn't nearly as injured as Tails, so she still had plenty of steam to take on Brooke with. "This has gone on long enough…It's time to end it!"

"Very well," Brooke replied, venom in her voice. "If that's the way you want it…You've threatened our town by coming here, you've been able to compete with our power, you've knocked out my boyfriend twice, and now you've worn my last nerve…I'm done playing around with you two, this time I'm not holding back, even if I have to kill you!" before either Tails or Stacey could stop her, she ran into one of the mirrors, her image soon appearing on every mirror in the room.

"FEEL MY VENGEANCE!!!" hundreds of Brooke clones suddenly started to pour out of the mirrors, surrounding them as they charged towards them. Tails and Stacey leapt into action, taking on the clones. Tails summoned a few more earth gears, the two gears circling around them and starting up a large sandstorm to try and disorient all of Brooke's clones. Tails and Stacey were in the very eye of the storm, and so were unaffected.

"I can't keep this storm up for long," Tails mentioned to Stacey. "So use this time to gather as much energy as you can…I have a plan that just might be able to defeat her,"

"Right," Stacey replied, nodding as she started to gather energy. Tails kept up the storm for a few moments before he started to feel the strain of using the magic necessary to do so.

"All right," he said. "I'm about to lower the storm, once it's gone, we start fighting them off…However, try not to use any of the energy you collected," he requested. "Try to see if you can still gather energy while fighting, and I'll leave an earth gear on the ground after a few moments…When I give the signal, get back to where I left it and charge it with all the energy you've been able to collect,"

"And then what?" Stacey asked, preparing herself.

"Then, you get the hell away from it and get back to me…This is going to cause a hell of a tremor," Tails replied. Stacey nodded before Tails suddenly lowered the storm, running in and starting to take out the clones with his sword as Stacey followed suit, continuing to gather energy. After a moment, Tails discreetly dropped his gear like planned, using several spikes to clear the area before jumping away.

"NOW, Stacey!" he shouted, and Stacey ran towards the area, jumping off of one of the spikes to get above the gear.

"Ultimate Charge!" Stacey released the energy in a huge burst, the gear absorbing all of the energy as it blasted down into it.

"Get over here, it'll go off any second!" Tails called over, using more of his earth element to create a rocky dome over them to protect them from what was coming.

"Huh?" Brooke and her clones stopped, almost losing their balance as the ground started to shake, soon growing more and more violent in its vibrations.

"What's going…." she was cut off as a huge stone pillar suddenly erupted near her, taking out many of her clones.

"Ah, crap…" Brooke jumped out of the way as more pillars erupted from the earth, soon smashing through the mirrors and domes as she desperately tried to escape. However, a pillar came up right under her, hittting her in the stomach and sending her flying high into the air. Tails removed the stone dome around him and Stacy as it rose up on one of the pillars, using its momentum to jump high into the air. More pillars formed, rising high up towards them, and they used them as platforms to jump up higher towards where Brooke was starting to recover.

"Your strategy might've been enough to finish us, but we're the ones delivering the final blow!" Tails shouted up to her as she righted herself in mid-air. Tails jumped off the last pillar up towards her, drawing back his fist as Stacey did a handspring off of the pillar behind Brooke, her leg extended up towards her.

"GUUUUUUUH!" Brooke cried out as Tails' fist connected with her face at the same instant Stacey's foot connected to the back of her head. She fell back down to the earth, creating a huge cloud of sand as she made contact with the ground. Tails managed to grab Stacey's hand, using his tails to hover slowly back down to the ground safely.

"Wow…What a fight!" Stacey commented as Tails fell to one knee, panting heavily.

"Yeah…It was rough, but we made it…" he replied before he collapsed, falling forward onto his face.

"Tails?!" Stacey quickly knelt beside him, rolling him over onto his back. "Tails, are you all right? Say something!" It seemed that the injuries Tails had taken from his last few battles were finally starting to take his toll on him. He'd lost plenty of blood from the cut Brook gave him, he'd been battered and bruised from taken on Steel, and had been exhausted by the excessive amounts of energy he'd used in both fights.

"I don't know, Stacey…I'm in a pretty bad way, those fights really took a lot out of me!" Tails replied. "If I don't get help soon, then…"

"I don't want to think about that," Stacey replied, gently brushing his bangs out of his eyes with a hand. "Don't worry, I'll get you back to town even if I have to…" she was cut off as Steel's metal-covered fist suddenly hit her head on, sending her flying back. She shakily got up to face him as he angrily stepped towards her.

"You two don't know when to give up, DO you?!" he demanded. "Now, at least one of you won't be a problem!" he said as he stood over Tails, forming the armor around one hand into a long blade. Quickly realizing that Tails wouldn't be able to fight back, Stacey ran towards him, charging energy as she ran and punched at him with a powerful charged punch. Steel raised his blade to parry, though it still caused him to stagger back several steps. Stacey then charged energy in her free hand, piroutting away from Steel's slash to get behind him before knocking him on his face with her charged-up punch.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Stacey declared. "Tails may be down for the count, but I can still take you on!" this statement only seemed to make Steel angrier, causing him to lash out more ferociously than before. Stacey kept out of his sword's reach, trying to slowly wear him down with powered-up hits whenever she found an opening. She kept this up for a little while, but then Steel caught her by surprise with a sweeping kick, knocking her on her back. Steel didn't waste any time, stepping on her stomach to pin her down as he raised his blade above his head.

"This is the end!" he shouted as he prepared to run her through with the blade.

"Steel, STOP!" a voice suddenly cried out, and Steel stopped, the tip of his blade inches from Stacey's chest. He turned, finding Brooke running towards them along with Max.

"Huh? Stacey?" Steel asked, surprised to see her already up and about. His eyes shifted to Max. "Who's the runt?"

"He's the one who came and talked some sense into me! We made a big mistake, here, these two have done nothing wrong!" Brooke told him.

"What? What do you mean?!" Steel demanded, seeming unconvinced.

"You might have read about it in the paper, but only part of it was true," Max replied. "Tails really did change into the version of himself portrayed in that story…But at the same time, it wasn't really his fault! He was fighting against two powerful foes, and in his attempt to stop them, he lost control of his own power and succumbed to the darkness that was in his heart,"

"You really expect me to believe that load of…" Steel started, but Brooke cut him off.

"Steel, he's telling the truth…I had him tell me this twice, and the second time I took his pulse while he did so just to make sure…They were fighting to protect their own town! There's a much larger enemy out there, and this cat believes that these two might be the only ones able to stop them with their power, and because of us, we almost lost this chance!" Brooke told him defiantly.

"What kind of enemy?" Steel asked skeptically, still not completely convinced.

"The kind of enemy that could wipe out entire populations…Is your misguided attempt to protect your city worth having that kind of power unleashed unto the world?" Max asked. Steel continued glaring at Max for a moment, challenging him. After a moment, however, he sighed, stepping off of Stacey as his blade shifted back into his armor.

"No, I guess not…I'm still not sure there could be such a threat, but trust Brooke, and if she believes it, I'm with her," he finally decided.

"Good," Brooke replied. "Now if we're done here, we should get Tails back to town, it looks like you really did a number on him!"

"Understood," Steel said, nodding.

"I'll help you move him," Stacey put in, following him as he headed back to where Tails lay.

"Geeze, I feel so damn stupid," Brooke sighed as she turned to Max once more.

"Don't beat yourself up about it…It was their intention to keep them busy by pitting you against them…Whoever's leading these guys knows what he's doing," Max assured her.

"Well, with how hard these guys fight, I'd say they'd better watch themselves," Brooke commented.

"Yeah…However, I fear the worst is still to come, and they're going to need more if they hope to defeat them once and for all," Max replied, turning to leave with Brooke as Steel and Stacey carried Tails behind them.


	12. Final Countdown

I'm sorry it took so long to write this chapter, I've been dealing with writer's block, college, and my computer crashing among other things. Anyway, here's the next exciting installment of this epic tale!

* * *

Chapter Twelve: Final Countdown

"Pretty good, but let's see how you handle this!" Brooke declared as she charged forward, throwing a fist in Tails' direction. Tails simply twirled out of the way, positioning his foot so that Brooke stumbled over it as she came. He then grabbed her, using her momentum to slam her against the back of the workshop.

"Come on, it'll take more than such an obvious attack to get past me at this point!" Tails remarked, smirking as he crossed his arms. It was about a month after their arrival which had initiated the Tails and Stacey's battle against Brooke and Steel. Brooke had taken it upon herself to train Tails more in his physical combat skills; his elemental powers had definitely brought him victory so far, but it wouldn't do any good if he were defeated because he couldn't back up his powers with strength.

"Heh, guess I got a little ahead of myself there!" Brooke remarked as she got back up. She suddenly lashed out with a kick, catching Tails off-guard as he was knocked on his back. Brooke followed through by doing a 360, her foot coming down on his chest to pin him down. "But you forgot one thing…"

"I know," Tails replied before he put his hands palms-down at his sides, pushing down and using this leverage to swing his legs up and kick her back. As she was sent sprawling above him, he rolled back to his feet, pinning her down with his own foot. "Never let your guard down!"

"Cheeky little twerp!" Brooke laughed as Tails removed her foot, helping her up. "But seriously, you've become a pretty formidable opponent, especially since you trained to improve your powers themselves!" she complimented him.

"Thanks! You're really tough too, I think I got lucky when I managed to defeat you that first day we came here!" Tails replied modestly. "Whoever's behind all of this won't stand a chance against us, now!"

"Well, let's not get too ahead of ourselves, now," Brooke warned him. "I have a feeling that whoever is leading these guys is a lot more powerful than their subordinates…I'm not sure if we're ready to face the kind of power they might have at this point in time,"

"Well, the least we can do is try, it won't matter either way if we give up," Tails reasoned. "Though it makes sense, and I've been getting the feeling that they're planning something big…Nothing's happened for a while, and I think this just might be the calm before the storm,"

"Yeah…Well, I suppose that's enough training for today, we should rest for a while!"

"Yeah, that'd be a good idea," Tails agreed, heading back towards his own workshop.

* * *

"Tails, wake up!" the next morning, Tails awoke to find Max vigorously shaking him, trying to get him up. He groggily sat up, looking around. It didn't even seem to be light out yet.

"What time is it?" he asked groggily.

"Never mind that now, Stacy's gone!" Max told him.

"What?! What do you mean, she's gone?!" Tails asked, waking up rather quickly.

"There was a disturbance last night, and when Stacey's father went to check on her, she was gone! All there was was this note," Max explained, handing him a piece of paper. "This is why I was trying to wake you up!"

Tails took the note, looking it over. It read, "I have kidnapped the girl you all hold so dear. She is safe and has not been harmed. However, this is liable to change if my demands aren't met. My request is simple; I want Tails to meet me in the ruins outside the west side of town at dawn. He must be alone and have his sword and booster with him. If these conditions are not met, Stacey will be killed." The note wasn't signed.

"I don't like this, I'm pretty sure that whoever's been behind everything so far might have sent this note," Max continued after Tails had read the note. "They're telling us that they could have taken this sort of action this whole time, like they're ready to be more serious about their goal…"

"Even so, I have to go," Tails decided, clenching the note in his fist. "The Gear Booster chose me, and that was all they were after all along…This is my responsibility!"

"I know," Max agreed. "However, whoever they are are sure to be powerful…Don't let your guard down!" he warned him.

"Don't worry, we'll get Stacey back and take these guys down once and for all!" Tails assured him.

* * *

As the first rays of light shone over the horizon, Tails stepped into the ruins he was to meet Stacey's captor. The ruins seemed to be some sort of ancient coliseum, the stone walls glowing red with the early sun's glow. A tall figure stood in the center of the arena, standing at around seven feet tall. They were hidden by a large hooded cloak that effectively hid their features.

"You've finally arrived," the figure stated simply. "I was afraid you wouldn't come."

"Well, I'm here now," Tails retorted. "Where's Stacey?"

"All in good time, my young friend," the voice continued, drawing a long black sword from inside his cloak. "I'm sure you know what I've come for…However, I'm not someone who simply takes what I want, I called you here to defeat you and claim my prize," the figure explained.

"All right then, let's go!" Tails replied, drawing his sword. He replaced both of his sword's gears with thunder gears, his blade crackling with electricity as he swung it towards him. However, the figure shimmered for a moment, disappearing before his attack connected. "What?!" Tails cried out in surprise before he was knocked down from behind.

"A valiant effort…However, it will take much more than that to defeat me," the figure informed him.

"All right, how about this?" Tails switched to an earth gear, surrounding the figure with high stone walls so that he wouldn't have a way out. He then flew up over the walls, diving down at him with a fiery punch with the aid of a fire gear. However, the figure shimmered again, once more vanishing. Tails didn't have time to communicate his surprise before he felt his opponent's foot on his back, driving him down and slamming him into the ground.

"Clever, but futile," the figure retorted, kicking him as he removed his foot. Tails lowered the stone walls he created, gritting his teeth.

"All right then," Tails replied, getting up. "You attack me first, then!" he forced himself to calm down, remembering his spars with Brooke and preparing to counter the figure's next moves.

"Very well, then" the figure agreed, vanishing once more. This time Tails didn't even have a second before he was knocked sideways by a blow from the flat of his opponent's blade. He immediately turned to slash at them, only to be sent sprawling as a kick connected to the square of his back. Tails kept turning, futilely trying to locate his mysterious foe, but to no avail. Finally, the figure appeared in front of him, slashing him from his right shoulder down across his torso, cutting a deep red gash across his body. Tails' sword clattered down to the ground as he fell back, already weakening from the blood leaking out from the slash. The figure stood over him as his vision started to blur.

"I could kill you right now…However, you did bring me what I needed, so I'll let you live," he replied, kneeling down to pull off his necklace the Gear Booster was on. He took the hilt of the Gear Sword as well, taking that as well.

"Remember this," the figure continued as he stood back up. "This world is doomed, and nothing any of you meddlers can do will stop me. I will allow you return to your own world once I've conquered this one. I WILL kill you myself if you continue your foolish pursuit to save this world. For now, I'll take my leave, so farewell." the figure told Tails before he once again shimmered and vanished into thin air. Tails watched him before his vision faded and he blacked out.

Tails woke up several hours later, still feeling pain in his body from where he'd been cut. He opened his eyes, finding his torso heavily bandaged around the slash. He sat up, finding Max sitting near his bed.

"I'm glad you're awake," Max told him. "We were all quite worried!"

"Stacey," Tails replied, suddenly remembering. "Where…"

"She's fine," Max assured him, cutting him off. "She was returned safe and sound after your battle. I followed you, and after he left, I came to help you," he explained.

"So, that's it…They've won," Tails said sadly, hanging his head. "He took my sword and booster, the very things they needed to take control of this world. Even if I had them, there's nothing we could do against that sort of power…"

"Bullshit…" Max retorted, and Tails looked up surprised before Max blindsided him with the back of his metallic fist. "That isn't the Tails I know…Even though I haven't known you long, I expected better from you!" Max seemed to be angry now, upset by his friend's lack of willpower. "You might not know this, but when you saved me, I was following you by your booster's energy…And I know this isn't you at all!"

"Max, what…" Tails started to say before he was cut off again.

"Who was the one who took out an entire warehouse full of goons? Who was the one who saved Stacey from a collapsing ferris wheel? WHO DEFEATED ONE OF THE BEST GUARDIANS OF THIS CITY?!" Max demanded. "You told me yourself that we'd be able to defeat them...But look at you now, just because you got defeated by one person, you're ready to give up? Did you really think I'd accept something like that? Like HELL I would!" Tails looked at him, shocked. After a few moments, he began to realize what he said was true. Sonic would never had tolerated that kind of attitude from him either, and he knew that there could still be a chance…There would always be another chance.

"You're right!" Tails jumped out of bed, getting pumped. "We've been severely disadvantaged, but this is far from over! I still have my physical skill and you guys to back me up, and that's all I ever needed!" he proclaimed confidently. "Let's go and kick the shit out of these guys!"

"Hell yeah!" Max exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air.

"Attention, citizens of Gear Town," both of them looked towards the window as a booming voice spoke outside. They ran downstairs and outside, where most of the people in the city were looking up at a cloaked figure, the same figure that had defeated Tails earlier. He was floating in mid-air several feet above the clock tower in the center of the city.

"Whatever we're going to do, we'd better do it fast," Tails commented as he looked up at the figure.

"Your day of judgment is at hand!" the figure continued speaking in his booming voice. "For too long, your technology has ravaged and destroyed the land, ruining the ecosystem with your murderous machines! The time has come that we, the true saviors of the land, have come to reclaim what is rightfully ours! Behold our power, and tremble before us!"

"Oh crap, get down!" Max suddenly spoke up, pulling Tails back. "I think I just realized why he's standing ABOVE the tower!" no sooner had he spoken than something suddenly hit the clock tower, shattered metal and glass flying everywhere. People screamed and ran to get out of the way as the explosion grew, devastating the massive structure. In a matter of minutes, the clock tower, the pride of all who lived in the city, was nothing more than a pile of rubble.

"You have six days to leave the city before we completely demolish it," the figure continued. "Any stragglers left behind shall be killed." with that, the figure shimmered and vanished from view.

"We can't let that happen…Whatever happens, we have to act as soon as possible!" Tails remarked. "I saw what hit the tower, and that was my power, the power of the Gear Booster…That's what's made all of this possible!"

"I saw it too…More importantly, I saw what direction it came from," Max replied. "I agree, we have to move soon…It has to be just us, Stacey, Brooke, and Steel are part of it too," he went on. "We have to go and get some supplies together first, then we leave at Dusk…We don't know how long it'll take to get there, so we'd better leave tonight!"

* * *

Soon, the five of them had gathered what they needed and left the city into the desert. For five days they traveled, arriving at their destination near evening of the sixth day, the day where the figure's threat would be fulfilled. Before them was a tall tower, standing around fifty feet high. At the bottom of the tower were five doors, each with a different symbol on it. A large fireball was on the door on the far left. Beside it a swirling design reminiscent of the movement of wind on the next door. On the far right was a wavy design seeming to be representative of water. A lightning bolt decorated the door next to that. In the very center was a door depicting a mountain, the largest of all.

"The five enemies we've faced so far are probably behind those doors," Max replied. "We'll have to get through them to get to the top. Their own elemental boosters are probably what increased the Gear Booster's power to such a level." He reasoned.

"And we'll have to defeat them to stop the city's destruction, right?" Brooke asked.

"More than that," Max replied. "The power of a booster can only be truly stopped when their owners are deceased…We're going to have to kill them to save the city!" he explained solemnly. There was silence for a few moments before Tails spoke up.

"If that's what we have to do, than we'll have to go through with it," he decided. "There's five of us and five of them, so we'll be able to get to the top more quickly if we each fight one…I'm going after Anubis," he concluded.

"Right," Stacey nodded, stepping forward. "I'll take on Volt, I still have to repay her for the last time we met."

"I believe my abilities would be most suited for fighting Mizu," Max deduced.

"I'll take on whoever this fireball guy is," Brooke decided.

"Which leaves me with Kaze," Steel concluded, turning towards the appropriate door.

"All right, let's do this…This'll be the final stretch!" Tails said solemnly. Together, the five stepped forward. The doors all opened as they approached, slamming shut securely as they entered the tower. The final battles for their world were about to begin.

* * *

And so we're drawing close to the conclusion of this story, and the revelation of the villain behind all of the mayhem! Stay tuned for the first tower battle: Max Vs. Mizu!


	13. Max Vs Mizu

All right, since I've already received several requests to do so, I decided to pick up this story again and finish it the way I originally planned it, including the twist ending I had in mind. I'm also doing this because I have an interesting idea for a crossover story that this version of Tails will be involved with once I finish Knights of Mobius and the sequel to this story I'm planning. I'm taking some time off from updating my Knights of Mobius story to finish this story, but I'll pick it up again before starting my sequel when I finish this story.

-h

Chapter Thirteen: Max vs. Mizu: H2O Havoc

Max ran quickly through a narrow hallway as he went through the door with the water symbol on it, keeping his eyes open. He skidded to a stop just in time as he suddenly came to the edge of a huge basin of water set into the floor of the room. The room was vast, having many different statues of different gods and goddesses, the reflection of the water from the deep basin playing over the artworks. As Max looked, he found Mizu standing on top of the water in the middle of the room, seeming to be waiting for him.

"Welcome," Mizu greeted him, spreading her arms. "I had a feeling I might be facing you here! I look forward to sending you to your watery death in this battlefield!" she told him.

"That won't be happening," Max replied, getting into a crouch. "When I'm done, no one will be able to find your body at the bottom of this basin!" he said confidently as he used his speed to run over the surface of the water, drawing back and swinging his metallic fist towards her. However, she disappeared right before his eyes as she then suddenly attacked from behind, knocking him down into the water. It seemed that she had been using her power to create a mirage using the refraction of the water to make it appear she was standing several feet from her hiding place.

Max quickly twisted in the water as Mizu shot by him, narrowly avoiding getting impaled by her weapon; she was wielding a pudao, an Asian weapon consisting of a long blade attached to the end of a staff. He aimed his fist towards the bottom of the basin, launching an attack with his strike booster to be able to shoot himself up out of the water.

"Hello again!"

"Wha?" Max turned, only to find Mizu standing on a pillar of water raised up above the basin right to the location where he had shot himself up towards. Mizu span, hitting him with her foot with enough force that when he was knocked back down, he was sent skidding across the surface of the water until his head hit the base of one of the statues. Max sank, a little dazed as a wound that had opened on his forehead was spilling blood into the water. He soon came back to his senses as Mizu dropped down into the water.

"Let's see you escape this!" Mizu spoke, and though there were bubbles flowing from her mouth, her voice was clear without being distorted by the water at all. She started to spin in place, soon creating a large whirlpool to try and suck him down to the bottom of the basin. Max knew he wouldn't have a chance to get back to the surface before drowning if that happened, but the force of the whirlpool was too strong.

Desperately, Max looked around, and found a pillar one of the statues rested on as he was starting to spin closer to the center of the whirlpool. He stuck it with all the force his strike booster could muster, and as he shot towards the center of the whirlpool, he used his speed to spin in the opposite direction as Mizu was spinning, and thus their rotations cancelled each other out as he rammed into her. Before she had a chance to react, Max grabbed Mizu and forced her up above him in the water before opening his fist, shooting her up like a rocket with a strike attack at point blank range. Mizu shot up out of the water, slamming into one of the statues. A moment later, Max shot up out of the water after her, his foot slamming into her stomach. The force of the kick was powerful enough that the statue shattered, and Max jumped in the other direction after the impact, landing on the head of another statue as Mizu managed to land on her feet on the surface of the water, the rubble from the statue splashing into the basin around her.

"Hmm, it seems you're stronger than I gave you credit for…Well, we'll soon fix that! It's time to step it up a little!" so saying, she slashed her pudao across the surface of the water, gathering water around the blade as she did so before she thrust the blade towards the statue Max stood on, and Max jumped off as the water hit it, shattering it with the force of the impact. She kept up her onslaught, sending her powerful water blasts his way with her weapon. Max dodged through some of them and used his strike booster to blast the rest of them apart.

He came up to Mizu and tried delivering a hit, which she blocked with the staff portion of her weapon. He ran the other way to maintain his speed to be able to keep running on the water before he turned and came back to attempt another hit. This went on for a few rounds before Mizu held the staff of her pudao horizontally in front of her in anticipation for Max's coming punch. That's when he suddenly grabbed the staff, using his own momentum to swing up and kick her with both of his feet. She lost her grip on the weapon as she slid back from the blow, and Max ran up to perch on the head of another statue. He launched himself off the statue at her, swinging the blade down to impact with her shoulder. It didn't cut her, however, as she then grabbed the staff of the weapon and flung Max away as he hit another statue.

"Did you really think you could harm me with my own booster weapon?" Mizu asked, laughing. Max ran up to the head of the statue he'd been flung at, smirking down at her.

"No, but it distracted you long enough to do this!" he said as he pressed a button on his mechanical arm. There was suddenly an explosion as the base of the statue he'd ran up before was blown away, sending the colossal creation toppling straight towards Mizu.

"Hmmph, that won't be enough to…" Mizu was cut off as Max suddenly streaked out across the water, jumping above the statue. He fired a missile from his arm, shattering the statue before he used his speed and his strike booster to rain down the fragments of the statue like bullets down on Mizu. She retaliated, blasting away some of the pieces with water and blocking others with her pudao. There were too many to be able to fight against the entire onslaught, however, and eventually she was hit by several of the fragments before one struck her on the forehead, knocking her back. Max saw his chance and ran back to her, but she suddenly grabbed him, whirling and throwing him high into the air.

Before Max could retaliate once more, Mizu raised multiple water drops from the surface of the water, surrounding him in the air with the bead-sized drops. They shot at him like bullets, hitting him from every direction and causing considerable physical damage with each hit. As the last ones hit, she then caused a pillar of water and used it to blast him up into the ceiling. The water kept him pinned there as well as simultaneously drowning him. It seemed like he might be finished, but there was suddenly a loud cracking sound as Max managed to get his palms flat against the ceiling, two long cracks starting to appear beneath them. Without warning, he managed to use his strike booster to fire a strike attack from both of his hands, destroying part of the ceiling as he shot himself downwards.

Mizu let the water pillar dropped, distracted by trying to protect herself from the rubble now raining down from the ceiling. Max then came and brought his foot down onto her head, knocking her straight down into the water. Before he landed in the water himself, he fired two more strike attacks from his palms down at the water, launching himself up slightly higher as he then flipped himself so that he feel face first, using his speed to rapidly spin around. He drilled down into the water, grabbing Mizu as he came down and spinning them both around. Before they went too deep, he then stopped and fired another strike attack directly at Mizu, sending her spiraling downward deeper towards the bottom of the basin. He turned and came back up to the surface, grabbing onto the leg of one of the statues and breathing heavily.

He waited, seeing if Mizu would retaliate. After five minutes, however, she still hadn't surfaced; she was done for. Max took another moment to rest and get his bearings before he raised himself out of the water enough to speed across it again, heading for the door on the other side of the room and leaving the area.


	14. Steel Vs Kage

Chapter Fourteen: Steel Vs. Kage: Hurricane Force

Steel walked through the hallway beyond the door with the wind symbol, holding a length of his chain in his right hand, the excess length wrapped around his left hand. The path lead to a great spiral staircase leading up to the top of a tall tower next to the main tower. He felt confident that he would easily be able to overpower his opponent and gain an easy victory. After all, wind wouldn't have the same effect on his solid steel armor as Stacey's power had. He was sure that Kage's problem wouldn't affect him that much at all. He arrived in a large open room with wide windows that the sun shone through. This room had no roof, and Kage herself floated high off the ground, held in place by a vortex of wind that formed a sphere around herself. She smiled as she looked down, finding Steel.

"Ah, yes, I've been looking forward to meeting you," she replied as she looked him over. "I heard your control over metal is quite formidable…However, defense isn't everything, do you think you can keep up with my power?" she asked.

"Easily," Steel replied, forming the end of the chain in his hands into a long blade. "This will be over quickly!"

"Mmm, yes, I think so too…Only the victor might not be what you expect!" Kage replied as she pulled out a short katana. Without warning, she flew straight down, curving in mid-air and heading straight for Steel as he raised his arm, ready to counter. The force of the blow was much too great for him to defend against as he suddenly found himself hurtling through the wall. He flung his chain out, managing to stab the blade above one of the windows before he fell, swinging himself back into the room towards Kage. She was gone before he could reach her, flying through another window, and coming in behind him as she flew back into the tower, sending him sprawling with a kick to his back, making him lose his grip on his chain.

"What's wrong? I thought you said you could easily keep up with me!" Kage taunted as he got up again, flying towards him again as she drew back her sword. Steel's eyes narrowed as he then slammed his fist into the ground, causing a steel pillar to suddenly rise up under Kage and knock her back.

"Seems like I did underestimate you a bit," he agreed. "But now, I'm ready to get a little more serious!" As he said this, the metal coating the fur around his fists changed shape, forming a pair of spikes on the knuckles. "Having Brooke as a sparring partner has taught me how to deal with an enemy that's hard to hit, so bring it on! You might have speed, but I doubt your stamina will hold up once I go on the offensive!"

"I'll take that challenge!" Kage replied as she flew up out of the ceilingless room. She flew in behind him again, flying in to try and attack with her sword. Steel turned and stepped out of the way of the blade, however, as he tried hitting her with a spiked fist before she flew off again. She flew up higher again before launching herself backdown, unleashing a flurry of attacks towards him. Steel moved surprisingly quickly, however, as he dodged her onslaught of blows. He slowly backed away as he dodged, and soon grabbed ahold of the end of the chain that was still stuck above one of the windows.

"Your little chain won't save you from my…" Kage began as she flew towards him, but she ended up flying face-first into the head of the giant steel hammer he'd suddenly formed with the end of the chain. He pulled it back and swung, trying to get in a hit while she was stunned, but Kage flew away before he could. Steel then changed the other end of the chain back to normal so it was no longer stuck above the window, pulling it in and wrapping it around his left hand again.

"Lucky shot," Kage spat, rising up above the ground once more. "But your tricks won't save you for long!" she flew down at him, but was surprised as Steel suddenly hurled his hammer straight towards herand she flew aside as it soared past her. Steel yanked the chain, reeling the hammer back and catching it in his right hand once more.

"I rarely use tricks," Steel replied. "I can make many things with my steel, but I don't conceal anything. You saw me make the hammer, it's your own fault you couldn't see the possibilities of what I could do with it," he explained. "I'm not using tricks, I'm just using my full ability to fight with full force with whatever I have at my disposal! If anything, you were the one trying tricks using this room's design to your advantage!" he commented. "But now I can attack you from a distance as well using my hammer and chain!" he told her.

"We'll just see who's fighting style is better!" Kage replied, rushing towards him again. Steel raised his hammer to hit her as she smirked, starting to raise a hand towards him to catch the hilt of the hammer before his attack connected. Steel then suddenly did something unexpected as the hammer on the end of the chain suddenly changed to a steel shackle, which he snapped around the wrist of the hand she'd raised.

"WHAT?" Kage cried in disbelief, seeing that she was caught!

"You fell for it!" Steel then hit her with his spiked left fist, sending her flying into a wall. "Admittedly, that one was a trick, but I figured this was the best way to knock some of that wind out of your sails!" he yanked the chain back and she was pulled towards him again by the shackle, and he spun around, knocking her into another wall with a kick before yanking her back once more, knocking her into the air with a fierce right uppercut before he yanked the chain down, slamming her into the floor. He then released the shackle as the end of the chain went back to normal, jumping back as he pulled his chain in again. Kage slowly pushed herself up as Steel's attack ended, bleeding from several wounds that Steel had just made with the spikes on his fists.

"Well, this has been fun, but I think it's time to end it now," Steel commented as he formed the end of his chain into a long metal spike. "I just hoped you would've been more of a challenge…" as he said this, Kage suddenly leapt at him without warning, a vortex of high speed winds surrounding her fist as she hit him in the chest, shattering his armor with the concentrated force of the wind before slashing across his chest with her sword.

"All right, at first this was amusing, then you started to try my patience…But now, you just ticked me off!" Kage told him. Before Steel could retaliate, she kept on her assault, using her concentrated winds to break the armor off of his body piece by piece. Once it was all off, she grabbed him, rising high above the ground. "Without that armor, you can't do anything, can you? How pathetic," she commented, hurling him down towards the ground.

Steel hit the ground hard, the floor cracking beneath him as he bled from several wounds he'd sustained from Kage's sword as he got caught in her onslaught. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't moving, but Kage wasn't convinced. She pointed the tip of her sword downward, flying at full speed down at him to pierce right through his heart. Suddenly, Steel's eyes shot open and pulled his chain taut, catching the tip of her blade in one of the links of the chain. Kage was dumbfounded that he was even able to keep hold of the chain at all.

"I can't do anything without my armor? Is that really what you think?" he asked, twisting the sword out of her grip with the chain and knocking her back with the hilt as he got up. "I wonder if I could say the same with you and this sword," he commented as he used his power to shatter the blade of the sword, the hilt falling to the ground.

"How are you able to stand? I thought you were incapable of handling pain effectively!" Kage cried furiously.

"What you heard about me might have been true before," Steel replied. "But some time ago, I was defeated for the first time since I started using this booster! It made me realize that my defense wasn't enough if I didn't have the stamina to support it. That's when I started training without my armor, building up my resistance to pain until I was able to handle getting back up again without nearly as much difficulty. Of course, my defense can be used again and again once I am able to get up again," he explained, and so saying, the shattered pieces of his broken armor suddenly flew back to him, reforming until his armor completely encased his fur once more.

"Big deal, I shattered your armor once, I can do it again!" Kage growled, flying at him once more with her concentrated wind forming around her fist. However, Steel formed the armor around his arm into a large shield, stopping Kage's fist although he slid back across the floor several feet.

"That might have worked with individual pieces of armor covering my fur, but I can't say the same will work with solid metal!" Steel commented. "As a matter of fact, I'm starting to feel a little cramped in here, I think it's time for a change of scenery!" he put his hands to the ground, causing a steel pillar to rise up as he used it to jump up out of the room and rise above it. He hurled his chain downward, causing it to split into multiple chains with metal claws that attached to the top of the walls until he landed on a chain web that he'd just formed. He detached the first chain from the web, preparing himself as Kage flew out of one of the windows, flying towards him once more.

Steel created a long scythe-like blade at the end of his chain, swinging it to slash at Kage every time she came near. Kage found that she couldn't get close as he could use his scythe chain and the chain web he stood on to retaliate every time.

"You might think you have me beat now, but I'll be the one to kill you in the end!" Kage cried as she flew back into the room, flying up from underneath to attack him.

"And you just made the last mistake of your life!" The claws on the end of the chains forming the web suddenly disappeared, and as he fell, the chains wrapped themselves tightly around Kage's body, cutting her attack short as they both fell to the ground, Steel standing atop her body. Kage thrashed around, trying to free herself of the chains, but to no avail.

"No, it CAN'T end like this!" Kage screamed, desperately trying to free herself.

"You're so confident in your own power, you fail to see what your opponent is capable of until it's too late," Steel commented, raising the scythe blade on his chain. "However, I try to see what my opponent can do to counter their moves, which is how I was able to come up with the plan leading to my victory and your demise! I don't usually like killing, but desperate times call for desperate measures!" with that, he plunged the tip of his blade deep into Kage's heart. Kage screamed, her body thrashing about in her bonds as her blood flooded out over the chains as well as her fur and body until finally she stopped thrashing, her face twisted into the permanent scream that her last moments had brought about. what your opponent is capable of until it's too late," Steel commented, raising the scythe blade on his chain. "However, I try to see what my opponent can do to counter their moves, which is how I was able to come up with the plan leading to my victory and your demise! I don't usually like killing, but desperate times call for desperate measures!" with that, he plunged the tip of his blade deep into Kage's heart. Kage screamed, her body thrashing about in her bonds as her blood flooded out over the chains as well as her fur and body until finally she stopped thrashing, her face twisted into the permanent scream that her last moments had brought about. Steel changed his chain back to normal, wrapping it back around his chest before going off to meet back up with the others.


	15. Brooke Vs Burn

Chapter Fourteen: Brooke Vs Burn: Heart of the Inferno

Brooke walked through the hallway past the door with the flame symbol, her swords in hand as she prepared to take on Burn. As she got closer to her destination, the heat in the area got noticeably hotter the further she walked. She soon found the reason for this as she emerged in a large circular room. There were many stone paths criss-crossing all around the room, but the heat was apparently coming from the hot coals that covered the entire floor of the room, the flames occasionally flaring up from the fiery pit. Burn stood on the pathway directly in front of Brooke as she entered the room, not seeming bothered by the heat at all.

"Well, well, what have we here?" Burn asked, walking over to her. "I was expecting to be able to settle the score with Tails, but this is a lot nicer surprise!" he commented, looking her over. Brooke glared at him, pointing the tip of one of her swords at him.

"Back off, I already have a boyfriend!" Brooke told him. "The only thing I came to do was to fight, not waste time with what you think about my body!"

"Fair enough," Burn replied, lighting his fists on fire as he lit his fists on fire, walking towards her. "I just might decide to keep you around if you change your mind later!" he said before rushing at her with a flaming punch. Brooke slipped past him, the flat of one of her sword blades hitting the back of his knees and sending him sprawling.

"I can assure you, I won't!" she told him simply. Burn flipped over on his back, kicking the back of one of Brooke's ankles, causing her to stumble, but she was able to retain her balance.

"Well, all right then, let's get started, shall we?" Brooke asked, into a fighting stance.

"You're just the quick one, aren't you?" Burn asked as he got up again, running at Brooke once more. Brooke sheathed her swords before forming a mirror in each hand, thrusting one of them forward to meet his flaming fist while aiming the other mirror at his head, causing to his fist to go in the first mirror and come out the second mirror to punch him in the face.

"What the…?" Burn staggered back, surprised as he shook his head, rushing in to try to punch once more with the same result. His other attempts weren't any more successful either.

"Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?" Brooke taunted him as this went on until Burn finally got fed up, blasting flames into the ground to propel himself up and over Brooke, landing behind her and knocking her forward with a sharp kick to her back.

"All right, playtime's over!" Burn said as his fists burst into flames, running up and attempting to punch down at Brooke. Brooke somersaulted forward, however, and he hit the ground instead.

"Now that's more like it!" Brooke told him as she drew one of her swords again, beckoning him towards her with her other hand. "All right, show me what ya got!" Burn ran at her at the challenge, swinging his flaming fists at her, but Brooke dodged away from his fists, waiting for her chance to strike. She saw her chance, slipping past a few of his punches, but he then surprised her as he kneed her in the stomach, causing her to stagger back. He then connected with a flaming right cross, singing the fur on her cheek as she was knocked off from the path she stood on.

Twisting around in mid-air, she created a mirror on the side of one path before making another mirror on the path below her and disappearing into it. Burn saw it and jumped down towards it head-first, pulling his arms in to reduce air resistance as he headed for the mirror before Brooke suddenly flew out of the other mirror she'd made, nailing him with a kick to the stomach and sent him flying back before he landed on another one of the paths. Brooke drew her other sword as he got up again.

"I thought you were ready to get serious now," Brooke commented as Burn glared at her.

"You'll need more than your little tricks to beat me!" Burn growled as he jumped over to where she stood.

"Aww, but I thought you liked my tricks! I have plenty more as well!" as she said this, he lunged at her before she suddenly disappeared, almost causing him to lose his balance as he shakily landed on the path.

"For example," Brooke continued, now standing on a path above him. "That wasn't actually me, that was a reflection! Seriously, Tails wasn't half as dumb when I fought him as you are!" she taunted him. "But it seems like you haven't even figured out the basics when I actually had trouble fighting Tails in a room full of mirrors!"

"You're really starting to get on my nerves!" Burn yelled at her, starting to recklessly hurl fireballs at her. Brooke ran towards him, easily dodging past the fireballs. Burn tried to hit her with a flaming punch, but she pirouetted around him, knocking him down with a sharp kick to the back before running over with her swords raised.

"Time to finish you off!" she told him, but before she could deliver the fatal blow, he suddenly caught one of her ankles between his legs, rolling over and flipping her down to slam her against the ground in the process. Brooke rolled out of the way off the path she was on as Burn aimed a blazing kick at her, narrowly missing. Brooke righted herself as she landed on another path, jumping out of the way again as Burn slammed down onto the path with a burning fist, destroying part of it. Burn kept chasing after Brooke as she continued to dodge him, creating mirrors along the paths as she did so.

"Now I've got you!" Burn retorted as he managed to land a flaming punch to the face, stunning her a moment as she fell down towards another path. She quickly shook it off, creating another mirror on the path below her as she dived into it, popping out of another mirror behind Burn and attempting to land a kick to his back. However, he seemed to be expecting her as he turned and blocked the attack with a forearm. Before he could counter-attack, however, she backflipped off his arm, diving backwards into another mirror.

Brooke then passed through several mirrors to build up some momentum, popping out from a mirror on a lower path and attempting to uppercut Burn before he blocked her again, kicking her away. Brooke landed once more, jumping sideways through another mirror. She kept coming at Burn, having all her attacks blocked as she came at him, until he was suddenly surprised as his feet were knocked out from under him right after he caught one of Brooke's blades.

"What the…?" he quickly got up to see Brooke literally standing beside herself as she'd created another reflection that had just attacked him. While he was staring at them, another reflection came up behind him, slashing him across the back with one of her swords.

"ERRGH!" Burn whirled around, destroying the reflection with a fireball before the real Brooke kicked him off the path, sending him bouncing off several more before he landed on a lower one dangerously close to the pit. He slowly got up before Brooke landed in front of him, spinning and kicking him in the ribs as she knocked him off, sending him down into the fiery pit below.

"Well, that was easier than I expected," Brooke commented, sheathing her swords as she made her way up towards the top of the room again. However, she heard something as she looked down, hearing the unmistakable sound of laughter. Suddenly, Burn flew up from the pit like a shooting star, his entire body flaming as he flew up towards Brooke, knocking her high up in the air. He seemed to be a lot faster as the blazing fox bounced off the walls and paths in the room, hitting Brooke each time he passed. Finally, he appeared above her, delivering a rapid barrage of flaming punches before kicking her down into one of the paths, the floor cracking under her, the attacks having left second-degree burns around her body where she'd been hit.

"Did you really think you were gonna finish me off with my own element?" Burn demanded as he landed on the path in front of her while Brooke was getting to her feet. He was still on fire, the flames of the pit seeming to have strengthened his power to be able to maintain the blaze around his body. "Let's see you hit me now with these flames!" he challenged before another reflection suddenly came out of one of the mirrors, hitting him from the side with a strong kick that threatened to knock him off the path before the flames destroyed it.

"**I** may not be able to hit you, but my reflections can hit you without me getting burned!" Brooke retorted. "My powers might not have as much offense as others, but I can still wear you down!" she told him before she jumped out of the way as he dived at her, disappearing into another mirror once more before reflections started coming out of all the mirrors she'd made so far, rushing at him to attack. However, Burn's flames lashed out, blasting at the reflections before a lot of them got near, though he still sustained some damage from the onslaught.

"Let's see how well you fare without those mirrors of yours!" Burn shouted, running to one of the mirrors and raising a fist to smash it. However, another reflection came out behind him while he was distracted, hitting him in the back and sending him into the mirror instead as he suddenly found himself in the swirling dimension that acted as the gateway between the mirrors. As he watched, the rectangular openings representing all of the mirrors Brooke created closed one by one, trapping him inside of the mirror dimension with his opponent.

"We've been playing on your terms for long enough!" Brooke told him, standing in the center of the swirling area around them. "Now, we're going to fight on MY turf!" she retorted.

"Big deal!" Burn snarled, rushing towards her, but Brooke jumped away impossibly fast, jumping off one of the walls and kicking him across the area so fast that he didn't have time to burn her.

"This dimension is the source of my booster's power, and I'm the one who's in complete control here!" Brooke retorted. "I don't usually fight in here, but during one of my fights, I realized that this place had more potential. I didn't focus on it at first, but during that battle, I felt a lot faster and stronger than usual while I fought in here. Now, I've trained enough that I've learned to control my enhanced abilities in here, this truly is my world!" she explained.

"My flames are still enough to finish you off!" Burn exclaimed, blasting streams of fire from his body every which way. Brooke was still in control, however, as she slipped easily through the gaps in the streams, using her speed to go and send Burn crashing against one of the walls with a swift kick.

"I might not be able to use my mirror abilities inside of my booster's dimension itself, but the trade-off of being able to directly call upon the awesome power of the booster itself is more than a fair trade-off!" Brooke commented. "There's nowhere for you to go, and I'm now too fast for any of your attacks! Someone more powerful might be able to find a way out of a situation like this, but now, I'm afraid this is the end of the line for you!"

"We'll just see about that!" Burn said, as he lunged at her, but Brooke was too fast as she dodged, zigzagging around him across the room as she jumped off the walls, starting to hit him as she passed him and disappearing once more before he could retaliate. Finally, he was knocked straight upward by a powerful uppercut. Burn tried to right himself before he was hit again, before he suddenly realized that one of the rectangular mirror openings had been left open, and he was headed straight for it.

He soon came out of the mirror, hitting one of the walls of the room they were in before hard on his back. Brooke then came out after him, both swords piercing through his chest into the wall. The flames on his body finally flickered and then died as Burn soon died with them, his eyes glazing over and becoming lifeless as his head lolled and blood poured out of his mouth. Brooke braced her feet against him and simultaneously yanked her swords out of the wall and propelled herself back to land on one of the paths, leaving Burn's lifeless body to fall into the fiery pit below.


	16. Stacey Vs Volt

Chapter Sixteen: Stacey Vs. Volt: Charged-Up Battle

Stacey walked down the hallway beyond the door she'd gone through, wielding her Charger katana in one hand as she prepared for what would await her in the room ahead. She soon arrived in the room in question, finding a floorless room with a deep pit, the bottom of which was obscured by darkness. A tall pedestal rose from the pit, and a lightning rod-like device sat on it. Electricity arced from the rod, holding up a variety of platforms via electromagnetism. The platforms rotated around the room along with the lightning arcs, the arcs occasionally passing through each other. The walls and ceiling were made of metal, and Volt stood upside-down on the ceiling, electricity around her feet producing the magnetism that kept her in that position.

"Well, if it isn't the one who got away!" Volt commented as she dropped down onto one of the platforms as it passed under her. Stacey jumped onto another platform as it passed by, turning to face her.

"Yeah, well, don't expect this to be like last time, I've learned to use my powers a lot more since we last fought!" Stacey told her confidently. "I'm ready for anything!"

"Oh yeah? How about some of this then?" static sparked in Volt's palm as she said this, hurling a lightning bolt towards her, but as she did so, she realized too late Stacey was already jumping away, the bolt missing its target.

"I've also been training to be able to read the movements of my opponent…So now I can dodge your attacks at the last moment when I see your aim!" she kept dodging them, starting to charge some energy in one of her feet before she suddenly leapt right for Volt, spinning to kick her. She released the energy she'd built up as she did so, blasting Volt across the room to another platform as she then landed on the one her opponent had just been standing on.

"All right, then, if you won't stand still, then I guess I'll have to come to you!" Volt retorted, electricity flowing from her hand until it manifested itself into a long curved sword that zigzagged in the middle to resemble a lightning bolt. It seemed like she was ready to get serious, which was just what Stacey had been hoping for; a good fight.

"All right then, let's see what you've got!" she challenged, brandishing her sword. Volt took this challenge as she leapt towards her, the two of them soon trading blows from their weapons, dodging and clashing with each other's blades for several intense moments before the two of them broke apart, jumping in opposite directions and each landing on another platform.

"Heh, not bad, brat, I guess you do have some skill!" Volt commented as electricity crackled through her fur. "But now, I'm going to show you REAL power!" she leapt off the platform, landing on one of the metal walls as she ran along it before leaping for Stacey and connecting with a kick to the side of her head, shocking her some as she was sent flying, managing to land on another platform. Stacey then cried out in pain as Volt came down behind her, her sword tearing into her back as it simultaneously electrified her. Volt jumped back to another platform smirking at her.

"Had enough?" Volt asked, taunting her. To her surprise, it was then that Stacey actually started laughing. Volt glared at her as she got to her feet, still wielding her sword. "What's so damn funny?" she demanded.

"Did you really think that I didn't improve my control over my powers while I was training as well?" Stacey asked. "I'm just getting warmed up!" she lowered herself to one knee, holding her sword's blade out horizontally in front of her and closing her eyes as she put two fingers from her free hand on the base of the blade. Volt watched in confusion before she suddenly realized that there was a visible aura forming around Stacey as she concentrated. Stacey then opened her eyes, sliding her fingers along her sword blade. As she did so, the blade started glowing where her fingers had slid across, the aura shrinking to envelop her body in the shining glow. "Maximum Charge!" Volt, on the other hand, seemed unimpressed.

"All right, you got some fancy new glow job, but that still…" she was cut off as Stacey jumped at her with amazing speed, slashing at her. There was an explosion of energy as the blade connected, blowing Volt back to the opposite wall.

"That's not all it is," Stacey replied simply. "My power can enhance the strength of other powers and charge energy for its own assault, but I've discovered that it can do more…Much more! I found I can charge almost anything, including my own physical abilities! This form doesn't even represent the limit of my power's abilities, but since more power requires more concentration, this will have to do…Even so, it should be more than enough to be able to finish you!" she explained.

"We'll just see about that!" Volt replied as she charged her sword with electricity, jumping towards her opponent once more. Stacey parried with her own sword, a small spark occuring as the blades struck each other. They continued clashing swords with each other, small sparks and burst of energy emitting from the blades as they fought fiercely against each other.

"All right, let's see you attack me if you can't get to me first!" Volt taunted as she leapt off the platform to land on the side of one of the metal walls, quickly running to get out of range of the platforms as the electricity around her feet magnetically held her in place like before. She ran up to the ceiling, preparing to drop down and attack Stacey, but she stopped as she realized that she didn't see her opponent on any of the platforms down below.

"Looking for something?" Volt turned only to be blasted back by a roundhouse kick to the face. She regained her composure, finding Stacey standing on the ceiling the same way she was. "Did I forget to mention that I figured out how to adhere my feet to different surfaces even before I learned how to use this form?" she asked simply.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" Volt demanded. "Well, you're not getting lucky this time, I'm going to finish you once and for all!" as she said this, she suddenly rushed forward, grabbing Stacey and lifting her above her head, charging her with a few thousand volts of electricity before throwing her down as Stacey landed hard on one of the platforms below.

"Lights out!" Volt jumped off the ceiling, righting herself as she extended her right leg, heading straight for Stacey's face. Stacey was managed to get up to her feet and jump to another platform just as Volt's foot slammed down where her face had just been a second before.

"Not bad…I probably would've been killed by that charge if my energy hadn't absorbed some of that electricity," Stacey commented. "Though I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out after taking an attack like that, so I'll have to finish this up quickly!" she commented.

"Not if I finish it first!" Volt growled, her electricity surging out as it surrounded her body, much like how Stacey's energy surrounded her own body. She leapt at Stacey, and Stacey leapt back at her a moment later. As Volt hurtled towards her opponent, she suddenly noticed that the energy was no longer surrounding Stacey anymore. Rather, now there was just energy around her hands as her sword seemed to be glowing with an almost blinding light now. She had little time to reflect on that as they met. Stacey's sword met Volt's own and their energies flared out as it turned into a power struggle against between both of their respective powers. Eventually, Stacey's proved to be superior as her energy burst out from her sword, sending Volt flying back.

Stacey wasn't quite finished, however, as she landed on another platform and kept jumping from platform to platform until she caught up with Volt, jumping above her and unleashing a flurry of slashes from her sword on her, not letting up. Eventually, she let out a short burst of energy from her feet, boosting herself backwards to land on another platform as Volt's blood-stained body fell into the dark abyss beneath the platforms. Stacey got ready to go for the door before the platforms fell, but strangely enough, the electricity keeping them floating didn't fizzle out.

"Hmmm…Maybe that electricity WASN'T produced by her power…Well, I beat her anyways, so we're one step closer to stopping these guys!" she commented as she made her way to the door on the other side of the room and continued on her way.


	17. Tails Vs Anubis

Chapter Seventeen: Tails Vs. Anubis: Technique Vs. Power

Tails ran down the hallway beyond his own door confidently, not backing down from the challenge that most likely awaited him in the room beyond. Although he and Stacey hadn't stood a chance against Anubis the first time they tried taking him on without powers, he was ready this time. Although he no longer had his sword or booster with him to be able to use his powers, he'd been working on improving his physical fighting abilities to compensate for his sudden lack of power. At this point, he was confident enough in his fighting skills that he felt sure that he wouldn't need his powers to defeat Anubis even against Anubis' own powers.

He soon arrived in a large open room, sand seeming to be making up the entirety of the floor. Anubis himself stood at the far end, kneeling down with his arms crossed acrossed his chest. He wore no clothing save for an Egyptian-styled loincloth around his waist. In each hand, he held an Egyptian Khopesh sword, their curved blades pointing to the ground with the way he was holding them.

"So here we are once more," Anubis spoke, standing up and flipping the blades of his swords upright as he uncrossed his arms. "And this time, there will be no escaping your death, especially without your power! I may have spared you the last time we met, but I won't be so lenient this time!" he told him.

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Tails replied, getting into a fighting stance. "But how are you so sure you'll win?" he asked. "I may not have powers, but even before I had powers, I knew that they aren't everything. The true victor in any fight is the one with superior technique, not the most powerful," he commented. "Since the last time we fought, I've been working on improving my physical fighting abilities, while you rely more on your powers. So, I have the technique without having powers, while you rely more on powers and thus have a lesser degree of physical fighting ability…Either way, this battle should be an interesting one!"

"Ah, but you forget…I also have these swords, while you don't have any weapons…That should be enough advantage over you to make this a quick fight!" Anubis replied.

"Hmm, an interesting theory…Let's test it, shall we?" Tails proposed. "Come and try and hit me using only those swords, and we'll see who really has the advantage in close combat," he challenged.

"Hmmph, seems like you're asking me to kill you! Well, I'm all too happy to oblige!" Anubis proclaimed as he rushed towards Tails, slashing at him. Tails simply leaned to the right as the first slash missed completely, stepping back as Anubis attempted another slash. He kept dodging the blades for a moment before he suddenly hit the flat side of one of the blades, knocking it away and leaving Anubis open long enough for him to punch him in the chest before he followed up with a powerful uppercut that sent Anubis staggering back.

"Well, look at that, I guess the one with the weapons ISN'T always superior!" Tails commented, which only made Anubis angry. He slammed his blades into the ground, a stone pillar rising up and slamming into Tails, sending him flying several feet back. Anubis caused more pillars to rise up out of the ground, but Tails managed to right himself in mid-air, twirling his tails and flying out of the way of the pillars. He landed on the ground, only to find Anubis was suddenly in front of him, standing on top of another stone pillar.

"Your overconfidence shall be your downfall!" Anubis declared. "You say the one with the better technique will be the victor…Well, technique is nothing when you're facing sheer power of this magnitude!" before Tails could react, he was blasted back by a burst of sand. He got back up, only to be knocked back by a wave of sand as he did so. The sand below his feet started to shift like quicksand, dragging him under as he was thrown about by the waves of sand to further disorient him. Anubis was about ready to dive into the sand to finish Tails off personally when Tails suddenly shot up from one of the sand waves, flying up to where he stood and kicking him in the chest before he could do anything.

Anubis was knocked off by Tails' kick, being sent tumbling down the pillar he stood on. He managed to stop the shifting of the sand soon enough so that he landed on his back on the sand instead of being dragged under like Tails just had been. He didn't have long to lie there, however, before Tails came running down after him. He rolled back up to his feet, slamming the blade of one of his swords against the pillar and causing spikes to start coming up towards where Tails was running. Tails jumped, using the aid of his tails to clear the spikes, and Anubis jumped back as he landed right in front of him. Tails stepped back to avoid another slash from one of Anubis' swords before he rammed into him with his shoulder, sending Anubis staggering a few steps before he ran to get some space between them. Anubis had recovered by then, seeing Tails standing several feet away.

"I don't know how you were able to survive this long, but my patience is wearing thin! This time, I'll strike you down once and for all!" Anubis retorted, raising his swords and rushing towards Tails at full speed. Tails didn't make any effort to get away, simply standing calmly in place. Anubis wondered why he wasn't even attempting to avoid at this point, but that didn't matter to him right now. He reached Tails and was about to strike him with his swords, but the last thing he expected was Tails' retaliation. Before he could lash out with his blades, Tails suddenly jumped, performing a backflip with his leg outstretched, catching Anubis' jaw with his foot and sending him sprawling.

After a moment, Anubis started to shakily get up after the unexpected attack. Tails' flash kick had caused him to lose his grip on his swords as well as leaving him dazed. He ran his tongue over his teeth, tasting blood as Tails' kick had shattered several of his teeth, their shards cutting into his gums. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and slammed his palm into the ground, causing another stone pillar to rise up in front of it. He punched it, shattering it and sending fragments of rock from it flying towards what he assumed was Tails.

He got back up, and as he regained his bearings, he saw one of his swords lying on the ground, and snatched it back up, looking around for the other one. Not finding it, he looked around for Tails, finding him lying facedown in the sand not too far away. As he approached, he saw that one of the rocks from the pillar he'd just destroyed must have hit Tails as he was bleeding from his forehead. He appeared to be unconscious, his left arm stretched out to his side and his right arm underneath him as it seemed that he might have landed on it.

"Guess power wins over technique after all!" Anubis laughed. He couldn't tell if Tails was dead, but he wanted to make sure. He stepped closer to Tails until he was standing over him, raising his sword with both hands to deliver the final blow…

"AAAAARGGH!" Anubis cried out as the blade of his other sword slashed a crimson line across his chest, clutching at the wound with one hand as blood seeped out of it. He had walked right into Tails' ploy; as soon as he was close enough, he had jumped to his feet and whirled around to slash at his exposed chest with Anubis' other sword. He'd actually been holding the weapon in his right hand, lying on top of it and using his own body to conceal it before he lashed out with it.

"How could you still be conscious? I thought my attack hit you in the forehead!" Anubis snarled at him.

"It did…I knew that my flash kick wouldn't keep you down for long, so I went for your other sword before you launched it at me…I avoided most of the debris, though when I grabbed your sword, a small rock caught me by surprise and hit my forehead. It dazed me for a moment, but then I turned and fell on top of your sword so you'd think you had knocked me out until it was too late!" Tails explained. "Even before I came here, I've had years of experience coming up with battle strategies, and with my newfound technique, I can always use my skill and strategic mind to find a way to beat you!"

"Not if I don't give you time to think!" Anubis suddenly smacked Tails hard with the flat side of his sword, sending him staggering back before Tails raised his own sword to block another strike. Anubis didn't let up, and Tails could hardly keep up as he dodged and parried the deadly blows from Anubis' sword. He still payed attention to Anubis' movements, soon finding and opening and slamming into him before he jumped up and took to the sky to buy some time and think of a new plan. He hadn't flown far, however, before he was met by a wall of sand, a vortex of sand soon surrounding him to keep him contained in one place. He went down to land, but quickly pulled up again as huge stone spikes rose from the ground underneath, preventing him from landing.

"Looks like my plans are better!" Anubis dropped down from the opening in the top of the vortex, landing on a stone pillar as it rose from underneath him. "You won't be able to keep flying forever, and those spikes will take care of you once you tire if I don't kill you first!" he snarled as he started hurling large stones he created from the ground at Tails, the rocks bouncing off of the swirling walls of sand, increasing in velocity. Tails bobbed and weaved, desperately trying to avoid the oncoming projectiles. After a moment however, he suddenly had an idea.

Tails stopped, being battered by some of the rocks for a few moments before he saw his chance, flying above a large rock and kicking the side of it to change its trajectory. Before Anubis had a chance to realize what he was doing, the large rock had bounced off the sides of the vortex at several angles before it crashed into Anubis' pillar. Anubis leapt off, attempting to create another pillar before Tails slammed into him from behind, sending him directly into the trajectory of the flying rocks.

Anubis was battered by his own stones for some time before he was able to focus enough to destroy them once more, the sand vortex fading so that he would have room to land. However, as the vortex faded, Tails suddenly slammed into him again, this time from above, using his tails to propel them both downward.

"Sorry, Anubis, but it seems like your strategy was your own undoing!" Tails told him before letting go, backflipping through the air to land safely on the ground as Anubis landed on one of his own stone spikes, the spike piercing through his stomach as his blood ran down the stone structure. Tails layed in the sand, panting from the battle he'd just been through as well as marveling as what he had just done. The proof of what he'd told Anubis was Anubis' own body, lying pierced on a spike of his own creation; he had just killed one of their most powerful enemies even without his own powers!

After Tails was rested, he sat up, looking up at Anubis' body still pierced on the spike. After a moment, however, realization dawned upon him; the spike was still there! Anubis' spike had been made by a booster's power, and as such, if the owner of a booster was killed, then all traces of its power in the surrounding area would disappear until a new owner was found for it. That could only mean that if the spike was still there, then the power Anubis was using wasn't even his to begin with. Which could only mean…

Tails ran towards the exit as fast as he could, hoping it wasn't too late. Contrary to their beliefs, killing the five elementals had done nothing to stop their scheme, the cannon would still fire if they didn't get there in also had a feeling that whoever was responsible for their organization in the first place might be waiting…

* * *

And so, we've come to the last two chapters of the story with Tails' final showdown against the leader of this mysterious organization! On another note, I'd like to announce that I'd like to try something different and see what it's like to collaborate with another writer over Google Docs. I already have an idea for another story that includes another new experience in writing for me; a female version of Tails. Send me a message if you might be interested in working with me on something like this, and be sure to include a sample of your own writing.


	18. Fate's Fury Part 1

Chapter Eighteen: Fate's Fury, Part 1

Max stopped as he reached the top of the main tower, finding himself on the roof of the tower, a large machine resting at the other end of the roof with a tall hooded figure standing before it. It resembled a cannon, and Max had no doubt that this was the weapon that had destroyed the Clock Town tower. He wasn't worried, however, as he had thought that defeating the owners of the elemental boosters would make it considerably less powerful, even if this figure still had Tails' Gear Booster.

"Hey, Max, don't start the party without me!" Max turned as Steel came out of another door.

"Good, you made it too," Brooke commented as she came out of the third door.

"I made it too!" Stacey proclaimed, emerging from the fourth door.

"Good! Now there's just one more person to take care of!" Max proclaimed, getting into a fighting stance.

"WAAAAAIIITTT!" Another voice shouted as Tails suddenly arrived through the last door. "Don't approach him yet, the cannon is still fully active!" he warned.

"What are you talking about? We killed the five elemental booster users, how much damage could your booster do alone even in that machine?" Max asked curiously.

"That's the thing; they WEREN'T the owners of the boosters!" Tails proclaimed.

"Your young friend is very perceptive," the figure spoke out as he stepped aside. There, previously hidden from view by the figure's body, were all five elemental boosters in different slots in the machine, the Gear Booster placed into the very top slot. "And the Gear Booster is what makes it all possible! You see, even though I may not be able to use the Gear Booster directly while its owner still lives, its other properties can still be used! Although I was able to find all five elemental boosters and grant their powers to others, I cannot truly be called master of the elements. However, the Gear Booster contains the power of all five elements, as well as another power…The power OVER the elements! By drawing upon the power of the five elemental boosters, the Gear Booster has become powerful enough to obliterate this pathetic land's population!

"You see, we knew the truth; since the mana from this land had left because of corrupt people, the only way to return the mana was to remove the corruption from this world. And the only true way to completely remove the corruption is to remove the people themselves! We were to be the bringers of a new age…Volt and her partner Burn, Kaze and her partner Anubis…And myself and my own partner, Kage! We were to teach our offspring about the power of magic and to respect the land, build an entire new world of peace and prosperity…But now, I can only hope to lead by example, to use the cannon to cut the population in half in order to convince people to change!

"Even if our plan didn't go as originally planned, I will be the one to single-handedly usher in the new age of prosperity!" The figure then lowered his hood, revealing a wolf with a long red scar across his left eye. "I am Zaman, future ruler of this world!"

"Not if we can help it!" Max growled, using his speed to rush at Zaman. The wolf simply raised a hand, however, and Max suddenly disappeared right before his friends' eyes.

"What the…? What the hell did you do to him?" Brooke demanded.

"I simply sent him back from whence he came…Not that it matters, he'll die along with half the population of this world soon enough!" Brooke and Steel then tried their shot at him as they ran in to attack, but they were met with a similar fate as Max.

"Well then, now that they're out of the way, I'd prefer to deal with the two of you myself!" Zaman declared, parting his cloak to reveal the silver armor underneath as he drew a long silver sword.

"All right, then, let's go!" Tails declared, getting into a fighting stance. "I've already defeated one of your most powerful followers without my powers, Stacey and I should be able to beat you easily!"

"Yeah!" Stacey agreed, drawing her sword. "We don't care what you think will bring back magic to the land, we won't let you fire that cannon!"

"All right then, let's see how strong you two really are, then!" Zaman challenged, running towards them. Stacey blocked an attack from his sword with her own, and Zaman then jumped back to avoid Tails' punch. Stacey then threw a burst of energy from her sword as she slashed, and Zaman jumped out of the way, but only to be knocked aside as Tails delivered a kick to his head. This fight went on for a moment, Tails eventually landing a punch in his gut, causing him to double over slightly. Then, unexpectedly, Zaman started to chuckle.

"Heh heh, you two really ARE good! But now, the warm-up's over, it's time to end this right now!" he said before he suddenly disappeared.

"Where did he…" Tails was cut off as Zaman suddenly materialized behind him, knocking him forward with a kick to the back.

"You'll pay for that!" Stacey declared, running at him and slashing, but Zaman was gone again, appearing behind her and knocking her down with a kick to the back of the knees. The two heroes tried to fight, but Zaman kept warping, countering with his own attacks. Tails was suddenly reminded of his fight before, the fight when he had lost his sword and booster…That was when he realized something about Zaman's power that he hadn't thought of before…

"All right, that's it!" Stacey declared, dropping to one knee and holding her sword horizontally in front of her. "It's time to step things up! Maximum Charge!" like in her fight against Volt, again Stacey's charge energy surrounded her and she ran towards Zaman once more with her increased speed.

"Stacey, DON'T!" Tails cried out, but Zaman was ready for Stacey. Too fast for either of them to see it happening, Zaman struck, and the blade of his sword was now pierced through Stacey's chest, right through the heart. Tails ran to her as Zaman ripped his sword out of her body and warped over to the cannon. Tails didn't see him however, dropping to his knees beside Stacey's lifeless form.

"It happened…Too fast!" In a matter of seconds, Zaman had stolen Stacey's life before she had even had a chance to defend herself. Tears started to sting Tails' eyes as his head started reeling. It wasn't fair; he was taken from his own world, his friends. He'd made new ones, but they ended up getting hurt in the end. It seemed that a lot of people were hurt because of him. But it wasn't really his fault, was it? He didn't ask for any legendary power, he hadn't meant to get tangled up in this whole conspiracy theory in the first place. It wasn't fair…

"In a matter of moments, this ruined world's population will be cut in half," Zaman's voice snapped him out of his reverie. He had activated the cannon, which was now warming up. "And then the rebirth can begin! But first, you're the only one left to stand in my way," Zaman said as he solemnly threw his sword aside before drawing another sword, this second sword being Tails' own Gear Sword. "How poetic; the hero shall be struck down by his own blade!"

Tails didn't look up, but he clenched his left fist. His despair was gone, replaced only by rage. His body shook in anger as he fought to keep himself from charging at Zaman right then and there. His eyes darted down to the ground, where Stacey's sword was still lying in her open palm. He reached for it, trying not to catch Zaman's attention…

"Well, would you look at that! You're so scared, you're actually trembling! Well, don't worry, your fear will soon be…" Zaman was cut off as Tails suddenly stood up, launching a blast of energy from Stacey's Charger Sword at him, and he jumped out of the way at the last minute.

"A few seconds…That's all it takes for a new master to claim a booster's power after its owner has died!" Tails told him, getting to his feet and glaring at Zaman. Then, he unexpectedly turned, running in the opposite direction as Zaman.

"What's this? Trying to run?" Zaman asked as he suddenly warped in front of Tails. Tails, however, then suddenly jumped at him, kicking him in the chest with both feet and rebounding off his armor, using his tails to propel himself towards the machine. Zaman suddenly realized what he was doing and warped in front of him again, but Tails jumped once more, turning and delivering a sharp kick to the side of his head and releasing the energy he'd been charging. Zaman was knocked aside, and Tails turned, making it to the machine and grabbing the Gear Booster out of it, deactivating the machine.

"I've thought about what you've said," Tails told him, clenching the Gear Booster in his fist. "This booster can enhance other elements, right? It's even able to focus the power of other boosters…So, in theory, that means I can take it as well!" he declared.

"WHAT?" Zaman cried in surprise. "Wait, don't, you wouldn't DARE…" But it was too late; Tails had turned, pointing the Gear Booster at the other boosters.

"Elements, come to my aid!" he declared and the boosters glowed, ribbons of different-colored light coming out of each booster and flowing into Tails' Gear Booster. There was a bright flash, and the elemental boosters all shattered, having been drained of all their power by Tails' Gear Booster. Tails himself was now in perfect condition once more, all of his wounds from his previous battles seemingly have disappeared. Even the ear that had nearly been torn off by Steel before seemed good as new.

"I see…" Tails said slowly. "The Gear Booster already has its own power, and can't take on anymore, so the energy was transferred to the next readily-available vessel; myself!" he declared. "The excess elemental energy flowed into my body…The power of the elements is now a part of me, and with that power combined with the Gear Booster, I truly am the master of the elements now!" he placed the Gear Booster back around his neck as it was still on its necklace. "You were right…There WAS a rebirth; my own rebirth, the rebirth of power that granted me these elemental powers, restoring me to peak condition!"

"That still won't save you from me!" Zaman growled, disappearing once more. This time, however, he didn't reappear right away. However, Tails kept his guard up, his eyes darting around the rooftop. Suddenly, he slammed a fist into the ground, causing a pillar of stone to shoot up and knock Zaman out of the air.

"That's another thing I realized…Your power! You can manipulate time and space, much like someone else I once knew! I could tell from the way you were warping that you were actually slowing down time to give the illusion of teleportation! Not only that, the way you sent my other friends away suggests that you have the power to move yourself and others through space and put them somewhere else! And now that I know what your powers are, I know how to fight against you!" Tails told him confidently. Zaman chuckled.

"Very good, kid, I don't know how you figured it out!" Zaman commented, holding out part of his cloak so Tails could see two boosters pinned to the inside of it. One was shaped like a star, and the other like an hour glass. "These boosters may not be as powerful as your own, but when used together, they give me plenty enough power! But what you've witnessed is not all I can do…For example, I can make this place a much more fitting arena for us!" as he said this, there was a loud cracking noise as the roof suddenly detached from the rest of the tower, rising up into the air. The platform expanded, giving them more room and high walls rose around the edge to keep them in the arena.

"Not bad, seems like you can do a thing or two with those powers after all…Though they won't be enough to stop me now that I have twice as much power as before!" Tails retorted.

"Go ahead and try, my own followers themselves weren't a match for me, so I think I can handle a boy like you! Besides, I'm the one who still has your sword!" Zaman responded confidently.

"Oh yeah, that's right…Thanks for reminding me!" Tails replied as he held out his hand. The Gear Booster hanging around his neck glowed and the Gear Sword suddenly disappeared, reappearing in Tails' free hand. "You seem to have forgotten my sword and the Gear Booster are connected to each other!"

"Hmm, seems that you'll be more troublesome than I thought…However, it will be I who have the last laugh!" there was a flash, and Zaman was once more holding his own sword, seemingly having used his power to retrieve it. "Let's go!" he ran towards Tails, warping from place to place as he zig-zagged his way towards his opponent. Tails jumped back as Zaman lept at him, Zaman's blade piercing the ground where he was standing instead. Tails then created two water gears and landed on them, ice forming on the bottom so he could use them as makeshift ice skates.

Tails held an arm behind himself, using his own elemental power to produce a powerful gust of wind, sending him quickly sliding towards Zaman, who warped away once more to avoid the attack. Tails turned, sliding to a stop to find Zaman hovering above the arena. Tails quickly skated towards where he was hovering, soon causing the ground to rise up to form a ramp as he shot off the edge, using his tails to fly up towards Zaman and slash at him with both of his swords. Zaman blocked the attack, and the two of them started clashing with each other in mid-air, Zaman warping around to try and catch Tails off-guard, but Tails kept up with him, blocking all of his slashes with his own swords. Tails then caught Zaman off-guard as he suddenly released a burst of energy from the charger sword, knocking him back. Quickly, not wanting to lose this advantage, Tails created several wind gears, blowing Zaman back.

"Do you honestly think that this will stop me for lo…" Zaman had started pressing against the force of the wind, using his power to try and break through when he suddenly realized that the wind was heating up before he suddenly realized Tails had just released a large stream of fire into the wind, blowing the flames right towards him. He was engulfed in the flames, taking the brunt of the attack before he managed to warp away, appearing back on the platform as Tails landed in front of him.

"Had enough?" Tails asked him, pointing his Gear Sword towards him. Zaman laughed.

"I'm just getting warmed up! You've proven yourself capable so far, but not even you can fight your own past!" before Tails knew what he meant, Zaman had warped away out of sight. As Tails was looking for him, he suddenly felt a sharp pain as a slash was inflicted on his back. He whirled around to slash at Zaman, but his blade met thin air, nothing at all being there. The attacks continued, and Tails was wondering what was going on before something dawned on him. When he had fought Zaman before, he had seemed to be much faster than he was right now. That could only mean…

"All right, Tails, think, where did the next attack come from?" Tails thought hard until he remembered that during one of the attacks, he had seen a glimpse of silver…The silver of the armor Zaman had just been wearing! "All right, now, what did I do next?" not sure that his next idea would even work, Tails imagined turning, creating an earth gear to shoot a pillar of stone towards where he had seen it…

"AAARRRGH!" Tails opened his eyes to find Zaman lying on the ground in front of him, a large crack in the armor where the pillar had hit him. "What…How could you have…" Tails merely smirked at him.

"Seems that your little time-traveling trick didn't work out nearly as well as you'd hoped!"

"No matter…I can go back further, to before you even found that accursed booster! I'll…" Zaman ranted at him before Tails stopped him.

"That's all well and good, but tell me…How would you know how to find me?" he pointed out. "You went back to the one other time we ever met in person…You may be powerful, but not even you can know exactly where I was any other time! And there's only so much time that I was here in this world, and you obviously can't travel through dimensions; if you could, you would've come to my dimension to find the Gear Booster a long time ago! That's also probably the main reason I was able to get to it first! It's only a matter of time before I'd be able to wear you down enough to beat you!"

"Oh, is that what you think?" Zaman asked, smirking. "But how can you hope to defeat me if you don't know your booster's full power yourself?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" Tails asked curiously.

"I mean, you aren't any closer to finding the last two elements than I am…You see, fire, earth, wind, water, and air make up the elements of the earth. However, there are actually seven elemental magics, the last two being the most powerful of all! Few people knew what they were…The creator of that booster you're wearing knew what they were, but only those with similar knowledge can unleash the power of those two elements!" Zaman explained. The two boosters he himself wore started to glow as the glow spread to the rest of his body. "I, on the other hand, know fully well how to unleash the full power of my boosters!"

As Tails watched, Zaman started to grow until he stood at least ten feet in height. A dark hooded shroud formed around him as a large scythe with a blood-red clock face on the blade. The area around him itself seemed to bend and distort from his power.

"You see, Prower, at my full potential, almost nothing can stop me! And once I reclaim your elemental power for myself and discover the secrets of inter-dimensional travel, then nothing shall escape my grasp. The world…No, the universe shall succumb to my awesome power! For you see, nothing can escape Fate!"

"You may be more powerful now, but I doubt even that is going to be enough!" Tails replied as both the Gears Sword and the Charger sword started to glow. "Maximum Flame Charge!" flames surrounded Tails' body as a fire gear on the Gear Sword combined itself with the Charger sword's energy. He ran towards Fate, dodging several slashes from his large scythe before he got close enough to launch himself up towards his face before something suddenly grabbed his tails from behind, pulling him back and slamming him into the ground.

"What?" Tails looked up, finding that there was a second Fate standing next to the original.

"With my increase in time-traveling abilities, I can take others from any moment in time, even a few moments earlier, and I can even use it on myself! It will only last for five minutes before my past selves will revert back to their own time so there are no lasting time paradoxes, but that's all the time that I'll need to finish you off!"

"I don't care what kind of trick you throw at me, I'll defeat you no matter what!" Tails retorted defiantly, slowly getting back up.

"You have an admirable fortitude, to be sure," Fate replied as three more of himself appeared for a total of five Fates. Tails went after one of them again, more of his elemental power surrounding him, but he was quickly knocked back again. Every time he tried to attack one of the Fates, another one would retaliate and knock him back. After a few moments, the original Fate grabbed Tails by the throat, lifting him high up in the air. Tails was the worse for wear as Fate choked him, clawing weakly at the massive wolf's hand in a feeble attempt to free himself.

"You should have known better than to challenge me! Even if you were to find the last two elements, you could never hope to defeat me!" Tails had been on the verge of blacking out from lack of oxygen when Fate had mentioned this, but he suddenly perked up as an image flashed into his head; the image of his Dark Gear form that had been on the newspaper he'd been shown…A flame even greater than the one Tails had produced before suddenly erupted from Tails' body, and Fate screamed as he was burned, dropping Tails.

"You're wrong…" Tails said slowly as he got up, gasping for breath. "The last two elements are exactly what I need to defeat you…Especially since you just made me realize what they were!" Tails told him as he stood up and his Gear Booster started glowing brighter than ever before. Tails then started to recite the different elements that made up its power, the appropriate gear appearing before him and circling around him as he did so. "Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, Thunder…Just as you said, these are the elements of nature, making up all the world around us! However, the last two elements are far more powerful because they're not physical elements…They are the elements that come from inside of us, that show us right from wrong, that make us who we are…Darkness and Light!" as he named the last two, a black gear and a white gear appeared along with the others.

"They won't save you from me, however, you're still outmatched!" Fate growled, his other versions lifting their scythes.

"That's where you're wrong…Individually, the elements may not be enough to defeat you," Tails said as the gears around him started to spin faster and faster. "But together, they are much more! Together they form one last shining ray of hope!" the gears transformed into multicolored rays of light, flowing into Tails and creating a bright flash. When the light faded, Tails had a glowing rainbow aura around his body, and the Fates themselves could feel the power radiating from him. "I embody that ray of hope! Together with the complete seven element, I am Shining Tails!" he said as he stood triumphantly and pointed directly at the original Fate. "And I'm going to take you down!"


	19. Fate's Fury Part 2

Chapter Nineteen: Fate's Fury, Part 2

Fate laughed as he beheld Tails' new form, his temporal clones laughing with him. "Is that it? You start glowing a little and think you can suddenly stop us?" the Fates asked. "Well, since you seem to be in such a hurry to die, we'd be happy to oblige!" they retorted as they all raised their scythes, hurling them towards Tails, threatening to impale him on the ends of the blades. Tails didn't reply, simply standing in the same spot with his swords crossed as he waited for the right moment. Right as it seemed that the scythes would run him through, however, he suddenly shot out from right under them, leaving a rainbow-colored trail behind him as he streaked past three of the Fates, closing in on a specific target.

"This was the first one you summoned, wasn't it?" he asked, having been paying attention to the order in which Fate's temporal doubles had appeared. "Now, I have one question for you…What happens to your future selves if one of your past selves sustains an injury?" without waiting for an answer, he leaped up, both of his blades slashing across his body. All of the Fates screamed as this first one was struck, for since this was the Fate that was taken the earliest from his own timeline, all of his future selves were affected by the injury.

"That's your main weakness when using this technique," Tails commented as all of the Fates pulled themselves together once more. "If one of your past selves is affected, you yourself will be affected, so I can hurt you no matter which one of your past selves I attack!" he concluded.

"Very clever, but if you think that we'll..." the original Fate started to say before his past selves suddenly disappeared. "Hmm, I guess it's been five minutes already," he commented as he looked over to where his past selves had been just a moment before. "No matter, I have more than enough power to kill you myself!" he declared as his scythe returned to his hand.

"Bring it on, then, and I'll show you what this power is REALLY capable of doing!" Tails challenged confidently. "This might not be my most powerful form, but it's more than enough to put you down!"

"Let's see how you handle this, then!" Fate declared as he waved a hand, causing many large rocks to appear in the air before him before they all flew towards Tails. Tails wasn't fazed by this as he leapt straight forward, dodging and blowing away some of the rocks before he leaped towards Fate, who warped back out of the way before he could make contact.

"You'll have to try harder than that, Fate!" Tails declared as the rainbow aura around him flared up around him. "But since you're still not taking me seriously, it's time to kick things up!" Tails' aura spread out from him as the individual elements making up the colorful aura seperated into six all around him, the light element staying with himself. "You're not the only one who has a cloning trick!" as he said this, the light element enveloped him as the other elements transformed, taking on the shape of his figure. "Now, if you think my first hurt before, then let's see how long you can last against six of me!" before Fate could react, all of the element clones rushed at him, each attacking him with twin blades.

"Nice try, but your technique has an even more obvious weakness!" Fate declared as he shook off the other clones, swinging at the figure made of light. However, it turns out it wasn't actually Tails covered with the energy as it split apart, reforming into Tails' shape once more and knocking him back with a powerful kick to the chest. The clones continued attacking, reforming every time he hit one of them. Even with all of his power, it was clear he couldn't keep up his strength forever, and seemed to be weakening with the blows.

"Grr...I know you're in one of these clones, and if I defeat all of them at once, I can finish you off once and for all!" Fate growled, and the air distorted around the clones as he slashed out, his scythe blade warping out from behind all of the clones to pierce through them. All of the clones dissipated as this happened, leaving him alone. "WHAT? Where did he go?" Fate demanded, looking around as he realized the real Tails wasn't among the clones.

"Up here!" Fate looked up, finding Tails holding a large lance formed from his elemental energy, the energies swirling around the sharp tip of the weapon. "It's time I ended this once and for all! Shining Lance!" Tails flew at Fate with everything he had, but Fate was ready this time. He managed to catch the lance before it impaled him, but the tip still reached his chest. He was weakening with the energy around the tip of the lance drilling into him as well as the lance itself burning his hand, but he stood strong, skidding back a little from the force of the impact. Eventually, the attack ended and the lance dissipated. Tails stepped back, drawing his swords again as he regained his stance.

"Heh, seems like I overestimated that attack a little!" Tails commented as he stood at the ready. Fate now had a round burn where the tip of the lance had struck him, but it didn't seem like he was ready to back down either.

"Admittedly, your power in this form is admirable," Fate replied as he readied his lance. "However, I won't be defeated no matter what the cost!" the air around him distorted once more as he produced multiple copies of his scythe as they floated in the air around him.

"Nice trick, though I can do it too!" Tails replied as seven swords, each made from a different element, materialized around him. The two rushed at each other without warning in a furious storm of blades, each holding their own with their weapons. However, Fate was gradually gaining the upper hand until the scythe Fate still held in his hands sliced through the element swords, slashing across Tails' chest. Tails cried out in pain as he dropped to one knee, managing to keep a grip on his swords. The rainbow aura around him faded as he returned to his normal form, however, the power boost it gave him going with him.

"Your fortitude is remarkable...Shame I have to end your life like this!" Fate commented as all of his scythes moved in, all of them quickly flying towards him to deliver the final blow. It never came, however, and Tails crossed his swords and raised them to catch all the blades at once, holding them off. An intense glow came from him, brighter than his Shining Form than before.

"Not yet," Tails said with a determined voice as he slowly got to his feet, pushing back against the blades. "This is Stacey's final hope...Even though her booster switched owners, her strength is still present in it...One last charge, strong enough to achieve my true super form!"

"I won't give you that chance!" the platform they were standing on suddenly broke apart as all of the individual stones flew above Tails. Before he fell through the air long enough, though, Fate struck, bringing down the crushing force of all of the stones down upon him. There was nothing Tails could do as he was forced all the way back down to the ground, being buried under all of the rubble. Fate floated down next to the rubble.

"Your last hope, huh? That only goes to show, hope is for the weak, and those who rely on it end up dea..." this last word was cut short as a pillar of light shot up out of the rubble, and Tails' glowing form rose up from out the rubble. He was curled in a fetal position as he floated above the pile before his arms and legs suddenly snapped out from his body as the glow faded from his body.

"You're wrong..." he said slowly. Light crept over his body, forming shining golden armor formed from different machine parts, gears being most prominent. "Hope is the reason I've been able to last this long...Hope is the one thing that has been giving me strength," he told him. "You can try and crush someone into dust, you can break every bone in their body, you could throw an entire world at them...But hope will never truly die as long as one holds onto it!" long golden wings were forming at this point, metal mechanical wings, the razor-tipped feathers gleaming in the sunlight as they were spread and Tails' transformation was complete; Light Gear Tails, his strongest form yet!

"No matter how many forms you take, you'll never defeat me!" Fate snarled, flying towards him with his scythe raised. "You're finished!" he swung downwards with all of his might, but Tails simply raised his left hand, catching the blade.

"You still don't get it, do you?" he asked. Both of his swords rose up from the rubble, glowing as they flew into each other, merging together. They changed shape, and as they floated to Tails' hand and he took it, it fully materialized into a new blade. It was a pure white katana like the Charger sword with the Gear Sword's features, long angel wings spread from the crossguards, which gave way to a massive blade seven feet in length.

"How is this possible? Where are you getting so much power?" Fate demanded. Tails only wrenched the scythe out of his grip in reply, throwing it aside.

"You've threatened the lives of an entire world just to carry out your fanatic plans, and killed someone very dear to me...That is not something I can forgive!" Tails cried out angrily. "No matter what form evil takes, there will always be the light piercing the darkness!" he flew at Fate with an amazing speed, flying around him as the massive sword slashed out multiple times. Fate cried out in agony, dark energy flowing from his wounds as he turned to face his assailant.

"You...You can't do this! I was to be the ruler of this world, I was to rebuild society from the ground up to bring magic back to this land...FATE CANNOT BE DEFEATED!" he shouted.

"I hate to be the one to tell you this," Tails replied as his sword came down, slashing through Fate's body right down the middle. "But I never really believed in Fate!" Fate cried out hopelessly as his entire body dissipated into energy, his screams growing fainter as he slowly faded out of existence. Tails returned to normal once more, falling to the ground on his hands and knees as he panted with exhaustion. He wanted to collapse on the ground right there...However...He looked to Stacey's lifeless body from where it had landed after Fate had dismantled the platform. There was one thing he still needed to do...

* * *

Tails' return had caused a sense of elation amongst his friends as he approached the home he had shared with Shayne for the past six years. However, this elation soon turned to despair as they received the news of Stacey's death. All of them were glad that Fate had been defeated, but none of them felt the cost for this victory could be justified in any way. Tails couldn't bring himself to even attend the funeral that was arranged for her. They buried Stacey's body on the mountain, the same place where they had been when they were attacked by Burn.

Vince left soon afterwards, not saying a word to anyone as he set off for a new city. Tails would understand it completely if he had blamed him for his daughter's death. Tails retreated to his room, not even eating for several days. Shayne and the others were worried about him, but they kept their distance, understanding that he needed time to heal from the deep wounds Stacey's death had inflicted on him. He finally emerged when Max had finally found what he had been looking for; a way to use the boosters to open the portal back to their own world.

Max and Tails now stood before the swirling portal before them, ready to step through. Max would go first to his own destination before the portal would take Tails back to his workshop in the Mystic Ruins. Max turned before he left, addressing the others; Shayne, Brooke, and Steel had all come to see them off as they went back to their own world to conclude this adventure. "It was a pleasure and an honor getting to know all of you...I hope the best for you and hope that we one day may meet again," he said solemnly before he stepped through the portal. Tails didn't say anything, his head low as he slowly stepped towards the portal. He stopped, looking up as he found Shayne's hand on his shoulder.

"I know this hasn't been easy...None of it, ending up here, being stranded for six years, but most of all, the loss of a loved one, one of the greatest losses of all...But I want you to know, no matter how deep the scars may be, you need to have the strength to carry on...For both yourself and Stacey!" the wisened raccoon told him. Tails didn't say anything at first until he suddenly ran forward to embrace Shayne firmly.

"Thank you..." he told him, tears streaming down his face. "For everything...I would've died if it weren't for you those six years ago...You've taught me more than I could ever have imagined...But most importantly, you've been like a father to me these past years, and that is something I'll never forget!" he released Shayne after a moment. "I can't ask you to leave your life behind to come with me, but I promise I'll get stronger and put all you have taught me to good use...And I know I'll be able to see you again some day!" Shayne smiled knowingly, nodding.

"Just remember that even though we'll be worlds apart, I'll always be with you!" he said, wiping the tears from Tails' eyes. Tails nodded, smiling as he stepped through the portal back to his own world, and the portal closed behind him. There was silence for a moment before Steel spoke up.

"So, they're both gone," he commented.

"Yep," Brooke agreed.

"They're probably better off in their own world, in any case," Steel continued.

"Yep," Brooke concurred once more.

"So...Now what?" Steel asked, and Shayne chuckled.

"Now, obviously, we help to rebuild the town!" Shayne answered. "The destruction of the clock tower did quite a bit of damage, but I'm sure with the three of us helping, everything will be back to normal in no time!"

"Yeah," Steel agreed, nodding slowly. "I guess it will!"

* * *

Sonic woke up abruptly as there was a bright flash of light from outside Tails' workshop. He had moved into the workshop soon after Tails had disappeared six years ago, keeping his workshop in order in the hope that his friend might one day return. He quickly got off of the couch, putting on his shoes as he feared there might be an intruder. He ran to the door and opened it, hearing someone's approaching footsteps in the grass outside. Sonic flipped on the floodlights, revealing the last person he expected to see.

"TAILS?" he ran to the figure, and although he was older than Sonic remembered, there was no denying that it was him. As Tails looked back up at him, however, he could tell something was wrong as he saw his tear-streaked face. He put a hand on his shoulder. "Is everything all right?"

Tails slowly nodded, a smile starting to form on his face. "Yeah, Sonic," he told him. "It's just good to be home!".

The End

* * *

Sorry it took so long, but I haven't been able to do any writing for a while. I've sort of been struggling with depression, and I'm just now starting to be able to focus on my writing once more. Rest assured, I'm probably going to update my Knights of Mobius story soon as well, and there will most likely be a sequel to this story as well, so stay tuned!


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